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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ian, post: 22054, member: 283&quot;]OK, here&#039;s a couple of observations: </p><p><br /></p><p>1) Directly above the bust you will find the privy mark of the Limoges mint director Francois Malbay. The only problem is that he didn&#039;t take up office until 1653 (?). </p><p><br /></p><p>Your coin is dated 1650 but (if my information is correct...which needs verifying) it could not have actually been struck in 1650.</p><p><br /></p><p>2) There is a possibility that the coin was struck twice, the second time with a new die but which did not obliterate all of the previous legend.</p><p><br /></p><p>On cursory examination of the image, this does not immediately appear to be the case. You have the coin in hand though and really should get that loupe out and start studying! <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />. At first I thought there might be something going on with the second `F&#039; but I suspect not. Hard to say without the coin in hand.</p><p><br /></p><p>3) I have seen blundered legends before on French coinage. (I have an example on an older quarter ecu) and as we can already see, these `blunders&#039;, although not common,&nbsp; do have a habit of going unnoticed by even the strongest admirers of the coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>This coin initially looks like being a `blundered&#039; legend ie a bona fide mint error. The only problem I have concluding on that is ` how does the mint also make an `error&#039; of minting a 1650 coin in 1653 (or perhaps even later)? So unwitting `blunder&#039; doesn&#039;t add up. </p><p><br /></p><p>4) I am almost 100% certain that it was a mint struck coin, struck in 1653 or later using a new obverse die (possibly a trial for the new Mint Director with the extra ` F&#039; as an addition to represent Francois Malbay?). Obviously the piece was either struck using the reverse die of a 1650 coin to create this `anomaly&#039; or it was completely overstruck on a 1650 coin as per 2) above. You need to closely examine for any signs of overstrike to determine the `either / or&#039;.&nbsp; &nbsp; After that i&#039;m just hypothesising / guessing......and your guess is as good as mine <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Ian[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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