AR Écu

Struck: 1785
Mint: Limoges
Size: 41mm
Weight: 29.48g
Die Axis: 180°
Grade: VF+
Ref: KM# 564

Obv: LUD•XVI•D•G•FR• ET NAV•REX•. Uniformed bust left.
Rev: SIT NOMEN DOMINI (lettre d'atelier) BENEDICTUM (mg) (millésime)•. Crowned arms of France within branches.
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Louis XVI was born on August 23, 1754 to Louis Ferdinand, Dauphin and heir to the French throne. In 1770 at the age of 15, he married the Austrian princess Marie Antoinette and became the King of France on October 1, 1774. The country was already suffering extreme financial and other problems.

Louis repealed regulations on the selling of grain which led to high prices during years when the harvest was bad. He also supported the Americans in their revolution against Great Britain which added considerably to the country’s already serious debts. Unrest grew among the populace as well as radical politicians in the National Assembly.

Unrest escalated to all out revolution in 1789 when on July 14th rioters stormed the Bastille with the aim to secure gunpowder and weapons. Louis had begun to lose control of the government and his country by this point. On October 5th, 1789 a crowd of protestors (mostly women) marched on the Palace of Versailles to protest the high price of bread. They eventually broke into the palace where several guards were killed. Louis gave in to the protesters demands and signed "The Declaration of the Rights of Men".

After several years of continued unrest, with France mostly controlled by the National Assembly, another riot broke out in Paris in August of 1792. Louis was arrested on August 13th and charged with several crimes. Chief among them, plotting with Austria to restore the French monarchy. He was executed on January 21, 1793 at the age of 38. Marie Antoinette was executed nine months later.