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Auction: 26776 - America 250th Anniversary Sale Ft. Coins, Medals, Banknotes, Objets de Vertu & Ephemera
Lot: 33

France, Louis XV (1715-1774), Double Louis d'Or, 1747 BB, Strasbourg, bare head left, rev. crowned oval shields, edge engrained, 16.09g, 6h (KM 519.4; Gad. 346), cleaned and soft to the reverse, with a hint of reddish tone, very fine

France played a significant role in shaping colonial North America, though its American empire ultimately gave way to British and, later, American control. French exploration began in the 1530s along the St. Lawrence River, and permanent settlement followed with Samuel de Champlain's founding of Quebec in 1608, establishing New France.

French colonisation focused heavily on the fur trade, fostering close alliances and extensive intermarriage with Native nations such as the Huron and Algonquin, and French missionaries, traders, and explorers, including René-Robert Cavelier, who claimed the Mississippi basin for France in 1682, naming it Louisiana after Louis XIV.

Rivalry with Britain fuelled a series of colonial wars, including King William's War, Queen Anne's War, King George's War, and finally the French and Indian War (1754-1763), which ended in decisive French defeat.

Under the 1763 Treaty of Paris, France ceded Canada and its territory east of the Mississippi to Britain, and transferred Louisiana west of the Mississippi to Spain, effectively ending its North American empire.

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Estimate
$1,800 to $2,000

Starting price
$1700