FRANCE / CAPETIANS - FRANCE / ROYAL Henri IV (1589-1610). Gold medal, celebration of the birth of the Dauphin Louis (XIII) by the Dauphinois 1601. Av. -FAVST- DELPHINI- NAT- DELPHINATES [The Dauphinois, for the happy birth of the Dauphin]. Large crowned dolphin placed in a circle and turned to the right; in the middle void, three small embracing dolphins. In the exergue: (date). Rv. DEDIT- HOC- PATRIS- INSITA- VIRTVS [Here is what her father's virtue sowed and produced - According to Stace, Achilleides, I, 133-134]. Thetis dressed in antique style with modern hair, seated right on a rock, holding her son Achilles by one foot and plunging him into the Styx. In the exergue: (date). TNG Méd. Fr. XXIX, 10 = BnF royal series 301 (gold) - Maz. II, 791 - Jones I, 268 (silver) - Roman 1911, 36 = this copy - Ubaud 90 = this copy - Laurençot 7404 ; Gold - 19,61 g - 34,9 mm - 12 h Top Pop: this is the only graded example! From the collection of Montcara [Montcarra], member of the Grenoble Parliament, sold by Count Pierre de Miry at the Château de Viry (Haute-Savoie), Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge sale, 24 to 26 February 1909, No. 75 and plate I. PCGS AU55 (60810475). By an unknown artist of great talent, probably Parisian? Small bump on the listel at 1 o'clock on the reverse and minor marks on the edge. With a golden patina. Perhaps the second known copy after the BnF Paris copy. A superb copy. According to J. Roman "This coin, as the legend testifies, was struck by order of the Dauphinois; if the minutes of the States of Dauphiné still existed, we might know if it was not from them that the initiative to issue this token came. It was probably engraved by an artist from the Dauphiné and minted in the Grenoble workshop. It is extremely rare". Known in silver: M. le comte de Galbert and in copper, Chaper collection. M. de Montcarra appears to have been a collector in the second half of the 18th century who corresponded with Gros de Boze (Archives du Cabinet des Médailles de Paris, sous cote 2011/091/ACM03-05 - https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b104637975). For the first-born son of Henri IV and Marie de Médicis, the future Louis XIII, on 27 September 1601: after the Wars of Religion and the extinction of the Valois line, this was the first birth of a royal dauphin in France for forty years, so the event was celebrated with great pomp.