{"product_id":"frankreich-8-louis-d-or-1640","title":"⁣⁢Gold Strike - Louis d'Or - 1640⁤⁣","description":"\u003cp data-gp-tth-0=\"277a4995\"\u003eIn 1640, after thirty years of reign and only three years before his death, Louis XIII (1601-1643) undertook a major reform of the French monetary system, which remained in place until the end of the Ancien Régime. Since the reign of Saint Louis (1214-1270), the benchmark standard of the French system had been the Écu d'Or. Louis XIII replaced it with a bimetallic system, based on two new coins: the Louis d'Or and the Louis d'Argent – commonly called Ecu d'Argent. Inspired by the Spanish pistole, the Louis d'Or was created on March 31, 1640, under the direction of the King's Superintendent of Finances, Claude de Bullion. He enlisted the talent of the sculptor and engraver of Walloon origin, Jean Warin, director of the Paris Mint and a protégé of Richelieu, Louis XIII's most influential minister. Warin had perfected the engraving of French coins by mandating the use of the screw press, a machine enabling the mechanical striking of coins. Thanks to this technique, he managed to spectacularly improve the quality of the royal effigy engraved on the new coins resulting from the reform. In the 17th century, the great writer and philosopher Voltaire spoke of this historic monetary evolution in these terms: \"We have equaled the Ancients in medals. Warin was the first to lift this art from mediocrity, towards the end of Louis XIII's reign.\" The Louis d'Or put into circulation in 1640 weighed 6.75 grams with a value of 10 livres tournois. It was available as a Double Louis (13.5 g) and a Half-Louis (3.376 g), also used as means of payment. In parallel, three commemorative coins, intended for collections, were issued: the 10 Louis d'Or, the 8 Louis d'Or, and the 4 Louis d'Or. The 8 Louis d'Or, of which you hold the new strike today, is called \"au col nu\" (bare neck) due to the unadorned depiction of the king on its obverse. It was distinguished from the 10 Louis d'Or only by its weight of 53.8 g. This magnificent coin is a numismatic rarity, which was struck in only 20 examples. One of them was awarded to a collector for $120,000 at an auction.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"pieces-et-monnaies.com","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50502422954331,"sku":"3349640110","price":104.9,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0021\/7887\/5438\/files\/2014.2014.webp?v=1747311050","url":"https:\/\/www.pieces-et-monnaies.com\/en-cy\/products\/frankreich-8-louis-d-or-1640","provider":"pieces-et-monnaies.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}