Today we are going to talk about one of the main revolutions in monetary history, that of the transition from artisanal to industrial production of money. For France, this revolution took place at the very end of the reign of Louis XIII and was accompanied by the creation of a new currency, the golden Louis.

Since antiquity, the main coinage technique used has been hammering. It is called hammering because the energy caused by the hammer on the upper coin wedge will emboss the coin blank and give rise to the coin.

Although this technique is very popular, it is nevertheless a source of irregular minting quality. Indeed, the quality of the coinage is conditioned by the striking force of the coiner. A poorly positioned blank will affect the quality of the coin. Especially since, from the Renaissance onwards, large silver coins began to be minted that were no longer suitable for hammering. And these same coins were often trimmed, i.e. the edges of a coin were scraped or filed down to recover a little metal. This is what led to the development of other techniques to optimise the production of money.

In the 15th century, a new machine was developed in Germany, which was imported into France and tested in 1551. This new machine was the pendulum, which was like a press that acted by percussion of the blank by the monetary wedges, extended at their ends by two heavy lead balls. But it was not until 100 years later, at the end of the reign of Louis XIII, and after a few improvements, that the pendulum coinage became widespread.

To accompany this major change in monetary production, Jean Warin was chosen to decorate the new coinage that was to be struck with the pendulum, the Louis d'or.

It is so called simply because this coin represents the king who saw its birth, Louis XIII. And compared to the gold ecu, which was the coin in circulation until then, Louis XIII decided to lower the denomination of his new coin to 917 thousandths instead of 958 thousandths.

This choice is explained by the desire to recast the foreign coins that were then circulating in large quantities in the kingdom of France. And the main coinage in the kingdom of France at that time was the Spanish pistole, with a titre of 917 thousandths of pure gold.

By creating his new coinage with the same gold denomination as the Spanish pistoles, the king only needed to recast these foreign currencies to produce his new money. This allowed him to recast the currency quickly and cheaply.

The movement begun under Louis XIII was not supplanted until 200 years later by another revolution, that of steam and the arrival of lever minting. The Revolution, this time French, swept away all royal influence and the Louis d'Or did not escape. Despite its abandonment and the creation of the germinal franc by Bonaparte, the term "Louis" remained in use to designate the 20 franc gold coin until the First World War.