Sale: Triton XIII, Lot: 1782. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Monday, 4 January 2010.  Sold For $415. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

FRANCE, Provincial. Lorraine (duché). René I. 1431-1453. AR Gros (2.16 g, 5h). Saint-Mihiel mint. RЄnAT’ D BARm’ · P’ · CO’ (saltire stops), René standing facing, holding sword and shield with ducal coat-of-arms / + SIT nOmЄn : DOmInI : BЄnЄDICTVm/mOnЄTΛ S mIChΛ (double saltire stops), cross pattée. De Saulcy pl. X, 10; Roberts 9545; Boudeau 1494. VF, toned.

From the Leonard O. Greenfield Collection.

Sought out by Charles II, the duke of Lorraine, for an alliance against Philippe, the duke of Bourgogne, René I eventually succeeded Charles upon his death through the marriage to Charles’s daughter, Isabella. This appanage, however, was first claimed by Antoine de Vaudémont, a nephew of Charles and the closest male heir. Together with Philippe, he defeated René at the Battle of Bulgnéville in 1431, and was only freed after the payment of a heavy ransom. On account of this captivity and ensuing payment, his interests in Naples were seized by Alfonso V de Aragon and, though he retained that title, it was in name only as his effective rule in Naples was never recovered. Later having ties to the English conflict of the War of the Roses, René was the father of Margaret, the wife of Henry VI of England.