Medieval France Henry II 1/2 and 1 Teston 1547 to 1561

Henry II was King of France from 1547 to 1559, but these coins were also struck during the reign of his successor and son Francis II, as well as during the reign of his successor, Charles IX. These coins were still using the bust and titles of Henry II, in order to fulfill an immediate need for circulating coinage.

There are two different denominations, the larger coin being a teston, and the smaller coin being a half- or demi-teston:

TESTON: 28 to 31 mm diameter, about 9 grams or a bit more
DEMI-TESTON: 23 to 27 mm diameter, about 4.5 g or a bit less

Since a large demi-teston can be almost the same size as a small teston, you might run into borderline specimens around 27-28 mm. The easiest way to tell the denomination of such coins is then by weight. Both the half- and whole teston are valuable in any case:

DEMI-TESTON:
worn: $150 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $400
well preserved: $800

TESTON:
worn: $120
average circulated: $350
well preserved: $1000

The capital letter under the crowned shield on the reverse is a mint mark. A denotes Paris; M is for Toulose, D means Lyon, L is Bayonne, G is Poitiers, P means Dijon and Z is for Grenoble.

The A, M, D and L coins are seen most often, while the Z coins are a little uncommon, and the P or G coins are the least common.

The teston in our picture comes from Ira and Larry Goldberg in Beverly Hills, USA. It sold for $260 US dollars in a 2012 auction. CoinQuest thanks the Goldbergs for use of their coin photo.

Please read our Important Terminology page found at the top left in order to properly interpret these catalog values.
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