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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;seth77, post: 7929609, member: 56653&quot;]In the field of &#039;Feudal France&#039; a lot of the identifications that still stand today, mostly between collectors rather than numismatists, come from the 19th to early 20th century self-made researchers (Poey d&#039;Avant) or antiquarians and collectors (Boudeau) rather than modern numismatists. And this is not just happening with the immobilized types from Chartres to Chateaudun or Blois, but to specific named and widespread issues as late as the 13th century. </p><p><br /></p><p>One such example is this:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1370842[/ATTACH] </p><p>AR18mm 0.99 g billon denier</p><p>+ <b>.</b> M<b> .</b> COMITISSA; large Roman I bar separating a fleur de lys and two stars.</p><p>+ NIVERNIS CIVIT; cross.</p><p>Poey d&#039;Avant #2141, Boudeau 347</p><p><br /></p><p>This type is usually assigned by dealers and collectors alike to Mahaut II -- a scion of the Maison de Bourbon -- (it was sold as Mahaut II by CGB almost 4 years ago), and it appears often whenever individualized by this identification: Mahaut II (1257-1262).</p><p><br /></p><p>In his work under the supervision of M. Bompaire, G. Peigney (Le monnayage nivernais des comtes de Nevers 954 -1355 Essai de synthèse historique, économique et numismatique, Nov. 2016) assigns it convincingly to the rule of Mahaut de Courtenai (1241-1257) -- a longer reign and more likely to have produced such a large output of coinage with such varying billon quality and module/weight. The hoards presented by Peigney (pp. 183-4) point to a circulation period between around 1245 to around 1270 (so possibly the coinage was issued until the death of Mahaut in 1257). The coinage had probably a few phases with varied billon quality -- an earlier phase keeping close to the title of the coinage of Guy II of 230/1000 (or even higher according to metallurgical research) and advancing towards a later phase, when the silver drops to 196/1000 (p. 187). By the looks of it, this specimen is a lower billon quality coinage, probably one of the later emissions, post 1250, although the stable patina (meaning possibly a better that 200/1000 billon) and style would point to an earlier phase. A conservative assessment would likely place it around 1250 with the obvious caveats.</p><p><br /></p><p>There is a possibility, considering the later billon composition and drop in weight to around 0.7g, that in the later 1250s the denier of Nevers was tariffed at half the royal tournois (p. 188), although heavier pieces, like this one, had more silver than a regular obole tournois. </p><p><br /></p><p>If actually imposed, a punishing exchange rate as such would be in line with the Royal administration&#039;s policy of limiting as much as possible the circulation of the feudal coinage in favor of the Royal denier tournois, a policy started by Philippe II (in the 1190s the proposed coinage was the denier parisis but by 1205 the preference moved towards the tournois following the annexations of John Lackland&#039;s &#039;Angevin Empire&#039;) and was accelerated by Louis IX, Philippe IV and the diplomatic maneuvering of 1315-1320s by his heirs, marking the beginning of the end for many feudal coinages with the Ordonnances of November 1315 to spring 1316.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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