PARIS COIN COURT Louis XIII 1635 fjt_790430 Tokens

Right

Legal title: CVRIA I was warned. FRANCES.

Direct description: Shields of France and Navarre crowned and surrounded by the two collars of the king’s orders.

Reverse

Reverse title: VNICVS. IGNIS. ALIT; AT THE EXERGUE: 1635.

Description: Two flaming hearts, one of which is crowned.

Reverse translation: One fire feeds them.

Comment

History

PARIS COIN COURT

(1552-1791)

In the Middle Ages, the Currency Chamber, located in the Palace, in the same rooms as the Chamber of Accounts, was responsible for controlling the mints. In 1522, Francis I granted it the powers of a real tribunal to judge cases relating to counterfeit money. In 1552, Henry II erected this Chamber into a sovereign court, better known as the Cour des currencys de Paris. The Currency Court of Paris had, in addition to its judicial powers, a political function (remonstrances, drafting certain edicts, . . . ) and control over weights and measures (in particular, it kept the so-called “Charlemagne” pile). From 1704 to 1771, it renounced part of its jurisdiction in favor of the Cour des currency de Lyon. The Currency Court of Paris was abolished in 1791, during the Revolution. The Provost General of Currencies was a corporation responsible for the surveillance of currencies and the enforcement of the judgments of the Cour des Currency in the 17th and 18th centuries. At its head, the Provost General of Coins was an officer appointed to hear counterfeit coinage crimes and to summarily conduct counterfeit coin trials, the proceedings of which were then presented to the Court of Coins.