Item number: A3746

Reference number: KM#514

Year: AD 1746

Material: Gold (.917)

Size: 22.3 x 22.1 mm

Weight: 8.158 g recorded

Manufactured by: Pau Mint

Provenance: Fuchin Coin 2025

This is a Louis d’or issued under King Louis XV of France. At this time, one Louis d’or was defined as equivalent to twenty-four livres tournois.

The obverse bears a left-facing half-length portrait of Louis XV, draped and uncrowned. Around it runs the abbreviated Latin legend “LUD · XV · D · G · FR · ET · NA · RE · (BD) ·”, expanded as Ludovicus XV Dei Gratia Franciae et Navarrae Rex, meaning “Louis XV, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre.” The nested letters “BD” are thought to denote the province of Béarn. Below the bust appears a tulip flanked by two pellets, the privy mark of the mint director at the Pau mint, Pierre-Pascal d’Arripe de Sadiras. The engraver of the coin was Joseph-Charles Roëttiers, a member of the distinguished Roëttiers family of die-cutters. In AD 1715 he was appointed Graveur des médailles du Roi (Engraver of Medals to the King), and in AD 1727 he became Engraver General of the Paris Mint. Owing to the characteristic features of the portrait, this type is known as the Louis d’or au bandeau.

The reverse presents a simplified armorial device of Louis XV. It consists of two inclined, mutually supporting oval shields: the left bearing the fleur-de-lis of the House of Bourbon, and the right displaying the cross, saltire and encircling chain associated with the Kingdom of Navarre. Above them rests the royal crown. At the base of the shields appears an animal device—said to represent a bull—which, together with the obverse legend ending in “NARE”, is one of the distinctive features of the Pau mint. Around the design runs the abbreviated Latin legend “CHRS · REGN · VINC · IMPER ·”, expanded as Christus regnat, Christus vincit, Christus imperat, meaning “Christ reigns, Christ conquers, Christ commands.” This formula derives from the laudes regiæ of the Latin liturgy, ultimately originating in the acclamations addressed to Roman leaders upon ceremonial entry into the city, and possibly adopted for the coronation of Charlemagne in the early Middle Ages. A sheaf of wheat at the end of the legend serves as the privy mark of Jean Antoine Duvinet, the local engraver of the Pau Mint. Immediately following it, “1746” indicates the year of issue.

Both obverse and reverse bear triangular denticles around the rim, while the edge is ornamented with a symmetrical corded pattern composed of paired knots arranged along a central axis.

Since Louis XIII’s reform of the gold coinage in AD 1640 and the introduction of the standardised Louis d’or, gold currency had increasingly become a central element of the French monetary system. The Louis d’or established a relatively stable standard of weight and fineness, enabling France to move from a fragmented regional minting structure towards a more centralised royal monetary regime. By the eighteenth century, with Louis XV assuming personal rule in AD 1723, France faced a crisis of credit arising from prolonged warfare and the failure of John Law’s financial reforms. The Louis d’or, as the principal anchor of monetary confidence, became crucial to the restoration of fiscal stability through adjustments to its weight, fineness and gold–silver ratio. The eighteenth-century French monetary system operated on a bimetallic basis, with legally fixed exchange rates between gold and silver and with the powers of local mints tightly regulated, ensuring that the Louis d’or continued to function as an instrument of international payment and to play an important role in European trade. Yet after the Seven Years’ War, France’s fiscal position deteriorated sharply: bullion outflows, currency depreciation and mounting national debt eroded both the purchasing power of the Louis d’or and the stability of the gold standard. By the reign of Louis XVI, fiscal imbalances had reached a critical point, and the financial crisis preceding the French Revolution led ultimately to the replacement of the royal gold-coinage system by a new republican monetary order.

By the final years of Louis XIV’s reign, prolonged warfare had already burdened France with considerable debt. To address this, the Regent, the Duke of Orléans, in AD 1715 appointed the Scottish financier John Law as Controller-General of Finances, granting him authority to undertake monetary reform, manage the national debt and reduce the trade deficit. Law’s programme relied on the issuance of paper money and the consolidation of overseas trade through a joint-stock company, most notably the Mississippi Company. Mismanagement and speculative excess, however, culminated in the collapse of the Mississippi Bubble in AD 1720, resulting in the breakdown of paper currency, severe inflation and further destabilisation of state finances. After assuming personal rule in AD 1723, Louis XV gradually reasserted central control over monetary issuance and strengthened the authority of the Paris Mint, re-establishing monetary stability on the basis of gold and silver. Through the recalibration of coin standards, the regulation of provincial mints and the correction of the exchange rate between paper and specie, France succeeded by the 1730s in restoring monetary credibility. This reconstruction of the currency system was fundamental to stabilising the national economy and commerce, and precious-metal coinage became a defining instrument of royal fiscal authority in the mid-eighteenth century.

In broader economic and political terms, Louis XV largely continued Louis XIV’s foreign policy of competing with Austria, Britain and Prussia in a series of European conflicts, including the War of the Polish Succession (AD 1733–1738) and the Seven Years’ War (AD 1756–1763). The latter’s disastrous outcome deprived France of extensive North American territories, diminishing its colonial power and indirectly undermining domestic fiscal and political authority. In his later years, the monarchy’s absolutist foundations weakened, while public resentment towards court extravagance and fiscal mismanagement grew increasingly pronounced. These accumulated tensions ultimately contributed to the political crises of the reign of Louis XVI and formed part of the deeper causes of the French Revolution in AD 1789.

物件編號: A3746

參考目錄編號: KM#514

年代: 公元 1746 年

材質: 黃金 (917‰)

尺寸: 22.3 x 22.1 mm

重量: 記載為 8.158 g

製造地: 波城鑄幣廠

來源: 福君錢幣 2025

這是一枚法蘭西國王路易十五所發行的金路易。1金路易此時定為24圖爾里弗爾(livre tournois)。

金幣的正面為路易十五的左側半身像，身披長袍，未佩冠冕。周圍環列拉丁簡寫幣銘「LUD · XV · D · G · FR · ET · NA · RE · (BD) ·」，全稱為「Ludovicus XV Dei Gratia Franciae et Navarrae Rex」，即「路易十五，蒙上帝恩典，法蘭西與納瓦拉之王」。嵌套的字母「BD」可能代表貝亞恩行省(Béarn)。下方有一鬱金香，夾於二點飾之間，為波城鑄幣廠廠長(directeur)，皮埃爾－帕斯卡爾·達里普·德·薩迪拉斯(Pierre-Pascal d’Arripe de Sadiras)的標記。錢幣的設計者則是出自著名工匠家族，羅捷耶家族的約瑟夫－夏爾·羅捷耶，其於公元1715年，獲授「國王勳章雕刻師」(Graveur des médailles du Roi)之銜，並於公元1727年獲任命為巴黎造幣廠的總雕刻師(Engraver General)。該王像的設計以其特徵被稱為「髮帶路易」(Louis d’or au bandeau)。

背面中央為簡化的路易十五紋章。盾徽為兩個傾斜互靠的橢圓盾徽，左側為鳶尾花，代表波旁王室；右側為在盾徽上以正十字、斜十字以及環繞排布的鎖鏈，代表納瓦拉王國。頂飾為王冠，盾徽底部的動物標記據稱為牛，與正面幣銘「NARE」，同為波城鑄幣廠的特徵之一。周圍環列拉丁簡寫幣銘「CHRS · REGN · VINC · IMPER · 」，全句為「Christus regnat, Christus vincit, Christus imperat」，即「基督統治、基督得勝、基督指揮」，為拉丁教會禮儀中，聖歌《君王讚歌》(laudes regiæ)中的唱句，來源於古羅馬時代領袖入城時接受的歡呼，可能於中世紀時便由查理大帝用以加冕。幣銘句尾有一束麥穗，為波城鑄幣廠本地雕刻師讓·安東萬·迪維內(Jean Antoine Duvinet)的標記。其後「1746」標示鑄行年。

金幣正背面為三角狀的齒邊，幣稜則為中軸兩側圓結對稱的繩紋邊(corded edge)。

自路易十三於公元1640年改革金幣制度、發行標準化的「金路易」(Louis d’or) 以來，黃金貨幣便逐漸成為法國貨幣體系的核心之一。金路易確立了相對穩定的金含量與重量，使法國從混亂的地區性鑄幣制度中邁向高度集中化的王室貨幣秩序。進入十八世紀後，隨著路易十五在公元1723年親政，法國必須面對前一時期因戰爭與約翰·羅金融改革失敗而累積的信用危機；此時金路易作為國家信用的支柱，其重量、成色與比價的調整成為重建財政穩定的核心手段。十八世紀的法國貨幣體制以金銀雙本位為基礎，官方訂定金銀比價並規範各地鑄幣廠，使金路易得以維持作為國際支付工具的地位，並在歐洲貿易中扮演重要角色。然而，在七年戰爭後，法國財政再度惡化，金銀流出、貨幣貶值與國債膨脹壓力加劇，使得金路易雖仍保有象徵王權的地位，但其實際購買力與國家金本位的穩定性已逐步受到侵蝕。至路易十六時期，財政失衡累積至臨界點，大革命前的金融危機最終導致王室金幣制度被共和時期的新貨幣體系取代。

路易十四晚期，因長期戰爭，法國已經累積了龐大的債務。為此，攝政王奧爾良公於公元1715年委任蘇格蘭金融家約翰·羅(John Law)為財政大臣，授予其推動貨幣改革、管理國債及改善貿易逆差的權力。羅提出以紙幣和股份制公司整合海外貿易的方案，最著名的是密西西比公司。然而，此政策在資本操作與市場管理上執行不當，最終在公元1720年引發「密西西比泡沫」的破裂，導致紙幣信用崩潰、通貨急劇膨脹、國家債務更形失控。路易十五於公元1723年親政後，路易十五逐步收回貨幣發行權至中央政府，並強化巴黎鑄幣廠的權威，以金銀實物重新建立穩定的貨幣基礎。透過調整銀幣的重量與成色、規範各地鑄幣廠權力、重估紙幣與金銀比價等措施，法國在公元1730年代後逐漸恢復貨幣信用。貨幣制度的重建對穩定國家經濟與貿易均十分關鍵，使得金銀鑄幣在18世紀中葉成為王權財政的象徵與統治工具。

於經濟外，路易十五接續了路易十四的法國對外政策：與奧地利、英國、普魯士等國進行連年競爭，如公元1733至1738年的波蘭王位繼承戰爭，以及公元1756至1763年的七年戰爭。其中，七年戰爭的失利造成法國喪失北美廣大殖民地，削弱其殖民帝國地位，間接影響國內的財政與政治權威。其晚年，絕對君主制的王權逐漸衰弱，民間對宮廷奢侈與財政管理不善的不滿情緒逐漸擴大，成為後來路易十六時期的政治危機以及公元1789年大革命的遠因。