That it took 399 lots to achieve this indicated that very many varieties were accounted for. Consequently this copiously illustrated catalogue will serve as a price guide which means that the non-specialist dealer need not trouble himself with obtaining the usual standard catalogues; some of these are now hard to get. The values indicated this catalogue should be used with prudence, however. For the most part French royal coins are relatively easy to obtain in only moderately presentable condition in a similar manner to their English counterparts. The coins in this collection have been carefully chosen for their visual appeal.
François I (1515-47) is known to English readers mainly because of the competition over splendour between him and our own Henry VIII at the event now known as the Field of Cloth of Gold. (Note that cloth of gold is a cloth woven from gold and silk threads and is not a general term, hence the omission of ‘the’. There is a fine example in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.)
There was a particularly photogenic silver groat with a striking portrait of King François struck at Lyon. Estimated at Fr4000-5000 it made Fr4800 (£457). Lest we should forget that the French kings were also monarchs of Navarre which straddles the west end of the Pyrenees and controls access to Spain, it is worth recording the rare 1647 Louis XIII quarter ecu with the arms of Navarre (a sort of tangle of chains ) impaling those of France. It realised Fr1500 (£142). The estimate was Fr700-1000.
Finally notice the Louis XIV, XIIII as he would have it, 1711 ecu resplendent with three crowns that was estimated at Fr1500-2000 and made Fr1600 (£152).
Forty-seven of the lots failed to find a new home (15.66 per cent) which is about what we may expect for such a sale. Judging by the relationship between estimates and results it seems that this is a firm and stable part of the market.
Exchange rate: £1 = Fr10.50
Goodwill from M. Bonhomme
The comprehensive collection of French royal issues formed by Michel Bonhomme was dispersed in Paris at Christian Delorme et Vincent Fraysse (expert: Alain Weil) on October 9-10. The period covered was from Charles V (1364-80) until the fall of the French monarchy in 1792.
