Triton XVIII, Lot: 1874. Estimate $500. Sold for $650. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ANGLO-GALLIC. Henry VI. 1422-1461. AR Grand blanc aux écus (27mm, 3.05 g, 6h). Nevers mint; im: mullet over pellet. Authorized 23 November 1422. (mullet over pellet) FRΛИCORVm : ЄT : ΛИGLIЄ : RЄX (triple pellet stops), two coats-of-arms; hЄRICVS with abbreviation mark above; pellet below im / (mullet over pellet) SIT : nOmЄИ : DnI : BЄИЄDICTV (triple pellet stops), latin cross; lis to left, leopard passant to right; ҺЄRICVS below. SCBC 8166; Elias 286c var. (abbreviation mark on rev.); Elias Collection 412b var. (same); Duplessey 445; Ciani 602; Lafaurie 449. Near EF. Rare.

From the Michael Joffre Collection.

While to modern eyes the abbreviation marks above the obverse and reverse legend may seem inconsequential, they were apparently very important to French mint officials. On 17 November 1428, the wardens of the Paris mint seized 480 ‘defective’ Grand blancs and had them melted at the expense of the moneyer. For a brief discussion of this phenomenon, see Elias, “The Obligatory Abbreviation Mark on the Blancs of Henry VI,” in NumCirc XXXVIII.7 (July/August 1980), p. 260.