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

'
504 The Coins of Europe
The francs d1argent of Henry III. and IV. in fine state.
The money of Francis II. and Mary of Scotland.
The patterns made by Nicolas Briot for a new coinage under
Louis XIII., 1618.
The 4, 8, and 10 louis pieces of Louis XIII., 1640.
The baronial money of Dombes and Turenne.
The colonial series from Louis XIV. to Louis XVI.
.
.
Many
of these coins are at best roughly struck.
The copper sol of 1719, brought out at the instance of John Law
of Lauriston.
Any of the currency from Louis XI. to Henry IV. in fine state.
Any carefully struck specimens prior to the first Revolution.
Patterns appertaining to the revolutionary period (1791-1803).
The current value of the very rare or very interesting
pieces comprehended in the foregoing enumeration is, it is to
be feared, subject to the normal uncertainty attendant on all
such property, and to the modifying effect which discoveries
of additional specimens naturally produce and the more
;
artificial the previous estimate, the more serious becomes in
such cases the decline or reaction. On the whole, there is
perhaps a greater number of dear coins in this section than in
any other, and where the price
is low, it is, as a rule, because
the condition is
poor, or there has been a large find. In
England, and still more in Germany and the Netherlands,
there are very few examples even of high rarity which exceed
the limit of ,25 but the French
;
amateur has to calculate
on giving from 1000 to 3000 francs for many pieces indispensable
in a really fine collection and from the ; temporary
relationship between France and Italy between 1470 and
1515 his cabinet is not complete without several specimens
of an equally costly description in the Franco-Italian coinage.
In other words, he renders a very attractive group outside
his own country as inaccessible to
the majority of buyers as
those actually or directly belonging to France. It is the
same with the Franco-Spanish money and it
; may be added
that the very questionable principle by which the Frankish
and other lines of princes anterior to Charles le Chauve or
Hugues Capet are claimed as French, similarly tends to enhance
the expense of procuring their coins.