FRANCE, Felipe VI. Gold Escudo . (Au. 4.53g/27mm). 1328-1350. (Duplessy 249). Obv: Felipe VI seated facing the throne with sword and shield inside a lobular groove, around legend: PHILIPPVS DEI GRA FRANCORVM REX. Cross decorated within a quadrilobe rráfila, around legend: XPC VINCIT XPC REGNAT XPC IMPERAT. Almost Extremely Fine/ Extremely Fine. Nice and rare specimen.
Escudo is understood as any coin, both from the Middle Ages and Modern, whose only requirement was to have a shield on one of its faces. In France it was the gold coin par excellence since the first copies were minted back in 1270 by King Louis IX. Throughout history they acquired different nicknames based on their iconography. This is the case of the famous shields of the chair, characteristic of the reign of Felipe VI and that show the enthroned sovereign from the front in a sequence that aims to convey greatness and strength. This type of coin dispenses with the recognizable portrait of the monarch in order to focus on the symbolic: crown, throne, scepter... and thereby fulfill one of the main functions of coinage in medieval times: to be a vehicle for transmitting the ruler's message to his followers. subjects. This iconography of the enthroned king soon became fashionable in much of Europe and thus, in the case of Castile, we will see its clear influence on the famous Enriques de la Silla, minted under the reign of Enrique IV already in the second half of the century. XV.
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