FRANCE / CAPETIANS - FRANCE / ROYAL Henry II (1547-1559). Double Henri d'or à la Gallia ND (1552), Paris. Av. HENRICVS. II. DEI. G. FRANCOR. REX. Bust of the King right, laureate, wearing a damascened cuirass. Rv. OPTIMO PRINCIPI (different). Helmeted Gaul seated, left, on a heap of arms and shields, holding in her right hand a Victory holding out a wreath to her; in exergue, under a ground line: GALLIA. Dy.978 - L/P.816 - Sb.4992 - G.398 - Fr.372 ; Gold - 7.32 g - 28 mm - 6 h Top Pop: this is the only graded example! From the collection of Abbé Jacques Thilliez, Burgan sale, 12 November 2021, No. 106. PCGS AU53 (45101288). Beautiful regular strike, on the balance wheel. A tiny blank defect behind the skull. The wear is light and regular, with minimal marks in the fields and on the scrolls. The patina is golden. Very rare. TTB to Superb. According to Jean Lafaurie and Pierre Prieur, Les monnaies des rois de France, 1956, p.62, "la série à la Gallia doit être la production courante de l'atelier du Moulin. The placards for the cry des monnoies give, as early as 12 September 1554, drawings of the Double Henri à la Gallia (diam. 26 mm), the Henri à la Gallia (diam. 23 mm), the Demi-Henri à la Gallia (diam. 20 mm) (...). We know of a few common examples of the Double-Henri à la Gallia, one of the Henri and two of the Demi-Henri (cf. MDC 8 no. 425); the other coins are essays and piéforts". The Monnaie du Moulin, as described, was a newly established workshop in Paris. After Cellini's unsuccessful attempt in 1537, the pendulum made its appearance in France in 1550. Its introduction was part of the ambitious monetary policy of the young King who, shortly after his accession, demanded to have his portrait "au naturel". He appointed Marc Béchot as the first holder of the newly created office of Engraver General of Coins. Then, thanks to the report of Charles de Marillac, ambassador to Nuremberg, he had a balance designed by the goldsmith Max Schwab brought from that city, according to the plans that Schwab had drawn up in Venice around 1545. The invention, which cost 3,000 écus, was installed at the western end of the Île du Palais in Paris, and took its name from the water mill that powered the various machines, such as the cutters and the pendulum.