FRANCE, Royal. Louis IX (Saint Louis). 1226–1270. AR Gros tournois (25mm, 4.10 g, 8h). Struck 1266-1270. Short cross pattée / Chatel tournois. Van Hengel L34.01; Duplessy 190; Ciani 181. Wonderful old cabinet toning. Superb EF. Exceptionally well struck.
Ex Goldberg 55 (29 October 2009), lot 1412 (there as Ludwig III of Randerode).
Issued by St. Louis in 1266 the gros tournois was ‘the first heavy silver coin to be struck north of the Alps, and was nearly a gram heavier than the grosso introduced thirteen years earlier at Rome. It was of ‘pure’ silver, i.e. of argent-le-roi (958/1000 fine), weighed 4.22g, and was worth exactly 12 denier tournois or one sou (solidus). Its design was basically that of the denier, but the chatel side was surrounded with a border of 12 ovoids each containing a fleur de lis - the number was perhaps intended to indicate the value and the cross side by a religious invocation.’ (Grierson, pp. 114–5).
