W. C a r e w H a z l i t t Coinage of the European Continent

472 The Coins of Europe
XIII., 1640, by the side of the Briot patterns of 1618, we
may satisfy ourselves that Official Ovvldom was as paramount
in Paris as it has ever been in London.
The uniform excellence of fabric of the French copper
from Henry III. to Louis XV. (1575-1774) forms a consideration
which has not perhaps been much studied, from
the apparent indifference of those most concerned to so
humble a topic. Yet it is on his deniers and doubles tournois
that we meet with the best portraits of Henry IV.,
while the series of Louis XIII. (i 6 1
1-42), including the rare
Navarre type of 1635, is most interesting from the graduated
diversity of busts of the king. The execution of these coins
reminds us very strongly of Briot and
; they differ in the
most marked manner from the- other productions of the same
epoch. They occasionally occur in piefort and in silver.
One striking characteristic of the whole series from the outset
is the presence of French instead of Latin legends an
apparent concession to popular convenience.
The reform in the coinage in 1640-1 comprehended the
whole system and the process of fabrication. It was no new
project. Henry II. had introduced the German system,
superintended by Aubin Olivier, who was expressly commissioned
to visit that country and obtain the necessary apparatus.
But officialism succeeded in limiting the improvement
to the production of medals, jetons, and pieces deplaisir,
while the ordinary currency was once more left to the
hammer. In 1618 Nicolas Briot submitted some patterns
of a very superior character ;
but vested interests again
intervened, and they were pronounced too expensive. The
actual new coinage consisted of the louis d'or and the demilouis,
the ecu d'argent of 60 sols and its moiety and minor
divisions down to a twelfth, and the double and denier tournois
with head to left. Of the silver ecu there are patterns
dated 1641 ;
and pieces of 2, 4, 8, and 10 louis were struck
in small numbers for presents
or orders. The louis was the
prototype of the English guinea.
Notwithstanding the introduction of this improvement
on the old principle and feeling, separate coinages for