![France, Charles VIII, Écu d'or au Soleil, Toulouse [WC-527] - Image 2](https://colonialcoins.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/WC-527-2.jpg)
Description
Kingdom of France, Charles VIII ‘l’Affable’ (‘the Affable’) of the House of Valois, King of France 1483-1498 AD, Gold Écu d’or au Soleil (3.43g, 27mm), Toulouse mint 1483-1498 AD. Obverse: Royal Escutcheon of the Armorial of the Kingdom of France surmounted by Royal Crown and radiant sun, ‘point secret’ to field in line with fifth letter, inner border and legend with initial mark ‘crown’ surrounds, “KAROLVS: DЄI: GRACIA: FRAꞂCORVM: RЄX”. Reverse: Cross Fleuridelisée with quadrilobed centre, ‘point secret’ to field in line with fifth letter, inner border and legend with initial mark ‘crown’ surrounds, “XPS: VIꞂCIT: XPS: RЄGꞂAT: XPS: IMPЄRAT”. Duplessy Royales-575; Gadoury R1-104. A charming hammered French piece of Charles VIII, fairly well struck and quite visually appealing in hand, near Extremely Fine.
The obverse Latin legend is stated unabridged as “Karolus, Deī grāciā, francōrum rēx”, with an English translation of “Charles, by the grace of God, King of the French people” – “Karolus” and “grāciā” are written with their Medieval Latin spelling. The reverse Legend is written in Greek and Latin, reading unabridged as “χρῑστός (khrīstós) vincit, χρῑστός (khrīstós) rēgnat, χρῑστός (khrīstós) imperat”, with an English translation of “Christ conquers, Christ rules, Christ commands” – ‘Christ’ is written as “XPS” which is short for “χρῑστός” (ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ) which means ‘Anointed One’ in Ancient Greek and which the Latin “Chrīstus” is derived from.
