Sale: Triton XIII, Lot: 1779. Estimate $100.  Closing Date: Monday, 4 January 2010.  Sold For $120. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

FRANCE, Provincial. Bretagne (duché). François II. 1458-1488. AR Gros (3.56 g, 12h). Nantes mint. + : FRΛnCISCVS : BRITOnVm : DVX : n : (star) :, coat-of-arms of Bretagne / + : SIT : nOmЄn : DnI : BЄnЄDICTVm :, ornate cross potent; n at center and pellet in each quarter. Poey d'Avant 1261; Boudeau 135; Roberts 6181; De Mey, Bretagne 414. Good VF, toned.

From the Leonard O. Greenfield Collection.

Though independent from the rule of neighboring France, Bretagne was poorly goverened by its duke, François II, leading to the overthrow of his corrupt and oppressive prime minister by the treasurer general, only to be deposed himself by forces supported by the ruling faction of France. François, however, was able to retain Bretagne’s sovereignty with the Treaty of Châteaubriant in 1487, only to face continued harassment by the French forces the following year, this time allied with Maximilian I, the Holy Roman Emperor. Defeated at the Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier, François was forced to sign the Treaty of Sablé, making the duke of Bretagne a vassal of the French crown.