HENRY VI King of England and France 1422 - 1453

SALUT D'OR,  2nd emission,  C. 1424-1444 * see note/s below:

Leopard mint mark for Rouen at 12.00 position, obv/rev., weight, 3.5grm,  Mint Masters 'annelet pointé'  o  at last letter of the legend on obv/Rev.

* The pointed ringlet is the mark of the master Étienne Marcel. Arnaud Clairand and Jean-Yves Kind, “The masters of the Rouen Mint and their different monetary marks (1418-1550)”, RTSENA, n°4, 2011, pp. 81-112, have shown that this mark was used from 1424 until October 1, 1444. For his exercise, the minting figures of the gold salutes are only known for the period from March 18, 1432 to October 1, 1444. During this period, this master minted 355,600 gold salutes.

* L’annelet pointé est le différent du maître Étienne Marcel. Arnaud Clairand et Jean-Yves Kind, “Les maîtres de la Monnaie de Rouen et leurs différents monétaires (1418-1550)”, RTSENA, n°4, 2011, p. 81-112, ont montré que cette marque fut utilisée dès 1424 jusqu’au 1er octobre 1444. Pour son exercice, les chiffres de frappe des saluts d'or ne sont connus que pour la seule période allant du 18 mars 1432 au 1er octobre 1444. Durant cette période, ce maître monnaya 355.600 saluts d’or.

Obverse: Archangel Gabriel (on the right) standing to the left, wings half spread, facing the Virgin Mary (on the left) standing to the right, whom he visits and greets by handing her a parchment bearing the inscription "AVE".

The figures are seen half-length and placed behind the accosted shields of France and France-England; above five rays of divine light.

Lettering: HENRICVS : DEI : GRA : FRACORV : Z : AGLIE : REX (unabridged translation: "Henry by the grace of God King of the French and of England".

Reverse: Plain Latin cross accosted by a lily and a leopard, under which is a H oncial, all in a fleur-de-lis decalobe.

Lettering: XPC VINCIT XPC REGNAT XPC * IMPERAT (unabridged translation: "Christ conquers, Christ reigns, Christ commands".

From 1421, the kings of France Charles VI and Charles VII had a new type of gold coin struck: the golden "salut". Their rivals, the kings of England Henry V then his son Henry VI, hastened to copy the golden "salut" to make use of it, in particular in their French possessions, using the graphics of the French currency but with some specific modifications.

In the first issue of Henry VI's golden "saluts", ordered on February 6, 1423, the gold "salut" was worth 25 "sous tournois" (and the golden saluts therefore weighed about 3.9 grams).

However, barely seven months later and to cope with the many monetary manipulations of his adversary Charles VII (1422-1461), Henry VI had to reduce the price of gold "saluts" to 22 "sols" and 6 "deniers", or 22 "sols" and a half (for a weight of around 3.5 grams per piece).

Although Henry VI's reign continued in England until 1453, he was kicked out of France in 1449. He also did not control all the mints. The mints of Amiens, Arras, Auxerre, Dijon, Macon, Nevers and Saint-Quentin were in reality in the hands of his ally, the Duke of Burgandy, Philippe le Bon (1419-1467).

When the Duke of Burgandy reconciled with the King of France, Charles VII after the Treaty of Arras signed on September 11, 1435, all his mints immediately stopped minting coins in the name of Henry VI.

Subsequently, the cities were taken over one by one and with them their monetary mints. Finally, only Rouen remained the last to mint coins for Henry VI until October 29 of 1449.

The gold Salut d'Or was struck through two issues under King Henry VI as King of England and France, the first from February to September of 1423 which is heavier and has a hand of Benediction above the scroll on the obverse. The much more prolific and common lighter second issue has the divine radiance above the scroll and is what is usually encountered, like the one displayed. Issued from 6th September 1423 it was issued at 70 pieces to the mark. It was issued from the Mints (mint mark at 12.00 of Obverse and reverse) of:

Amiens R2  mm. Lamb;    Auxerre R? mm. Mill ;    Châlons-sur-Marne R?  mm. Crescent/Croissant;    

Dijon R2  mm. Face of Christ;    Le Mans R1  mm. Root;    Paris R1  mm. Crown, and  R3  -  with out secret mint mark;

Rouen R1mm. Leopard;     St Lô R1, mm. Lis;     St Quentin R?  mm. Spur with Mullet;     Troyes R3  mm. Rose;

Reference : SPINKS S8164 / Dy 443A/J-Y Kind 464

Collection : ANGLO - GALLIC