1/4 Ecu - Louis I

Louis I ruled Monaco under French protection, having secured the Treaty of Péronne in 1641 which shifted the principality's allegiance from Spain — a realignment that shaped every aspect of Monégasque coinage for generations. This quart d'écu belongs to a two-year window of production that was almost certainly curtailed by the practical limits of Monaco's tiny mint operation rather than any policy decision. Surviving examples are genuinely scarce; Monaco never struck in quantities remotely comparable to French royal issues of the same period.