USA - UNITED STATES OF AMERICA America-Canada (French colonies), Louis XIV (1643-1715). Sizain de poids triple (piéfort) 1658, A, Paris. Av. (at 12 h) LVD. XIIII. D. G. FR. - ET. NAV. REX. (date). Crowned shield of France, between two crowned Ls; below (workshop). Rv. (at 12 o'clock) * SIT. NOMEN. DOMINI. BENEDICTVM. Cross indented, cantonned with four lilies. Dy.1580 - G.84 = this specimen (Plate corner); Billon - 2.44 g - 21.5 mm - 6 h From sale MDC 13 n° 2559. This is the second highest grade at NGC! and only 2 higher specimens at PCGS with AU58 (Stack's $4080) and PCGS MS62 (Stack's $10200). NGC AT 50 (6635721-029). With a grey patina on the silver. Very rare. Superb. The 1658 Paris douzain and sizain are sometimes thought to have been struck for colonial America. Robert Vlack disputes this, but Walter Breen (nos. 274-275) classified them as "[French] domestic coins officially exported to America" in 1988. The distinction between the sizain and the douzain is sometimes confusing: it must be based on the diameter, 22 millimetres for the sizain and 24 millimetres for the douzain. The weight is often double the theoretical weight (0.927 g)! With a diameter of 21.5 mm and despite a triple weight, our example is undoubtedly a sizain (piéfort). A double-weight example, or piéfort, is known in the John J. Ford collection (8 January 1990, No. 19, $14,000) = coll. Donald G. Partrick = Heritage sale 18 March 2021 No. 15234 (NGC 6054818-002). Our copy is reproduced in Gadoury 2018, n° 84 p.86. Only a very few copies of both the sizain and the douzain are known.