English: This is a silver coin that has been converted into a brooch by the addition of attachments on one side (there have vanished but their placing is clear) and by the gilding of one side of the coin. The coin is a silver gros tournois of King Louis IX, of France, a relatively large silver coin for the period, first introduced to the French currency by this king and struck by him in the years 1266-1270.

Obv.: +LVDOVICVS.REX

Rev.: TVRONVo SCIVIS

Wt: 3.97g

The utilisation of French gros tournois in this manner is familiar in England at this time, and there have been several finds of similar items, of Kings Louis IX anf his successors Philippe III and Philippe IV, as well as similar issues by other princes of the region. It is definitely an English phenomenon, as such converted coins are not found in France. The rare, similar-sized groats of Edward I of England, issued briefly c. 1280-1, are also found altered in this way. The coins used are mostly datable to the decades around the 1290s and on all of them the side featuring the design of the cross (the front of the French coins and the back of the English ones) forms the front of the brooch, which is usually gilded, with an attachment, or evidence thereof, on the other side.

The French gros tournois was a fine silver coin of over 90% good metal.