411, Lot: 506. Estimate $150. Sold for $130. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CAROLINGIANS. Charles le Chauve (the Bald). As Charles II, King of West Francia, 840-877. AR Denier (19.5mm, 1.64 g, 9h). Class 2. Curtisasonien (Courcessin or Courgeon) mint. Struck 864-877. + CRΛTIΛ D–I REX, Karolus monogram / + (HC)VRTISΛS◊NIEH, cross pattée. Depeyrot 375 (Courgeon); M&G 895 (“Curtisassonien”); MEC 1, 860-864 (Courcessin). VF, toned.

From the Simon Coupland Collection, purchased from ebaY France, November 2007.

The location of the CURTISASONIEN mint has long been a problem. In MEC 1, Philip Grierson confidently identified the mint as Courcessin, near Corbon (Orne), though there are problems with this theory. The three hoards which he cites all date from the early tenth century, not from the reign of Charles the Bald when the mint opened; moreover, two hoards found relatively close to Courcessin contained only one CURTISASONIEN issue between them. Although Grierson’s hypothesis may be correct, more evidence is thus needed. Depeyrot has opted for Courgeon (Orne), with no justification except the strange claim that it could have served as a 'campaign mint against the Vikings'. There was in fact no significant Scandinavian activity in the region at the time the mint started operating. The coin's high weight strongly suggests that it dates from the reign of Charles the Bald. [S. Coupland]