Louis d'or: The King Behind the Gold Coin
The Louis d'or began with Louis XIII in 1640, and its name translates as "golden Louis." The king's portrait on one side gave the coin its name, while the French royal coat of arms appeared on the reverse. Its beginnings belong to a reign before that of Louis XIV, whose coins continued the name. Subsequent issues through 1793 were limited to half, one, and two Louis.
The monetary setting helps explain the new gold coin's design. It replaced the franc, which had theoretically circulated since John II. In practice, the principal gold coin circulating in France in the earlier seventeenth century was Spanish: the double escudo, or "doubloon," weighing 6.7 grams. The new French coin explicitly copied it. A half Louis was also called the demi-louis d'or, and a two Louis coin the double louis d'or. The full Louis had the weight and fineness of the Spanish pistole, or two escudo coins, an international trade currency. That connection placed the French coin alongside a gold currency already used across borders.
Gold content and official prices posed another problem. Louis XIII had previously struck coins from 23 carat gold, although Charles V had made 22 carats the international standard a century earlier. Royal edicts valued the French gold coins so low that exporting them was profitable. The new half Louis kept the weight of the old écu d'or but reduced its fineness to 22 carats, allowing it to circulate at five livres. The Louis d'or therefore emerged amid changes to both the metal in French coinage and the value assigned to it. Its gold standard connected a domestic monetary reform with an established international practice.
Manufacturing changed too. Earlier coins were made by hand, and people could shave gold from their edges before passing them on. This illegal practice was called clipping. Jean Varin, a medalist from Liège, installed machinery in the Paris mint to make perfectly round coins, allowing clipping to be detected. Under Louis XIII, the gold coin measured about 25 millimeters and weighed 6.75 grams. Its front showed the king's head facing right, with a motto identifying him as king of France and Navarre by the grace of God. The reverse displayed four double Ls beneath a crown with fleur de lis, alongside a motto about Christ reigning, conquering, and commanding.
Louis XIV's version retained much of that physical design. It was similar in most respects to its predecessor, including its approximate diameter and weight, and Jean Varin remained the engraver named for it. The portrait faced right, but the royal identification changed to Louis XIV. Smaller transactions had other coins available: silver écus, sometimes called louis d'argent, and copper sous and deniers. The silver coin also came in half, quarter, and eighth denominations, valued at 60, 30, and 15 sous. Gold was one part of a wider range of French coinage, with separate metals and denominations available for smaller values.
Under Louis XV, the Louis d'or encountered paper money and a changing valuation. Mintage initially fell while John Law introduced paper money. After Law's system failed and Cardinal Fleury became the king's chief magistrate in 1726, mintage returned to normal levels. The coin's weight rose to 8.1580 grams, and it was valued at 20 livres with a commitment to keep that valuation. In 1740, its value rose to 24 livres, a change that devalued the livre by 20 percent. A reverse adopted in 1726 placed the arms of France and Navarre in two ovals, earning the nickname "Louis aux lunettes," or Louis with glasses.
The version minted under Louis XVI between 1785 and 1792 introduced another portrait direction: the king's head faced left. It measured 23 millimeters, weighed 7.6490 grams, and carried crowned arms of France and Navarre on the reverse. B. Duvivier was its engraver. During the French Revolution, a coin called the Louis d'or constitutionnel bore the inscription "24 livres" and belonged to the First French Republic. The franc replaced the royal gold coin at the revolution, with the similarly valued Napoléon following later. Under Louis XVIII, the 20-franc gold coin was a Napoléon, reflecting the new monetary law under Napoleon I.
A later gold discovery gave the royal design another setting. In July 1725, the Chameau left France for Quebec carrying military and political passengers and gold and silver, then sank near the voyage's end. Cannons on the sea bottom alerted diver Alex Storm in 1961; he mapped the wreckage, and the gold was found in 1965. The Royal Canadian Mint commemorated the discovery with the Gold Louis in October 2006. Made of 99.99 percent pure gold, it had a face value of one Canadian dollar and a mintage of 10,000. Queen Elizabeth II appeared on its front, while the reverse carried the crowned double L monogram and the motto about Christ reigning, conquering, and commanding.