Post Your Charming Charlies!

That part of the coat of arms is for the Duchy of Bar. The fishes are barbel fish, in French barbeau - or just bar. It could be that the fish are there because there were plenty of barbel fish in the river Ornain which flows through the city of Bar-le-Duc, the historical capital of the Duchy of Bar. It could also be just a word game, playing on the likeness of the names for the duchy and the fish. (The origin of the name Bar for the town of the Bar-le-Duc has been given several differing explanations, including the presence of the fish in its river.)

Staying with the 17th century French feudal coins:

Charles III Gonzaga, Nevers & Rethel and Arches & Charleville, 1609, liard.



A man with many titles: Duke of Nevers & Rethel, Prince of Arches & Charleville, from 1627 also Duke of Mantua and Duke of Montferrat (the two latter as Charles I).

Not sure how charming he was.

Thank you for the fish story.
That's a beautiful copper piece!

2 $1 coins depicting Charles Kingsford-Smith.

United Kingdom 2009 2 pounds featuring Charles Darwin (not sure of the chimps name)


United Kingdom 2012 2 pounds - Charles Dickens.

Nice contributions, @triggersmob!

One last Charlie from me, back to where I started, Sweden. This time a forefather and predecessor of our current king.

Carl XV, Sweden, 10 francs/1 carolin, 1869.




Now, Sweden has never used francs as a currency, so there is a story behind this one-off coin. But let's first talk about the king on the coin.

Carl XV was king of Sweden and Norway 1859-72. And he was a real charmer. Court etiquette was not really his thing, he preferred moving around in society, meeting, joking and drinking with people from all societal strata. He sometimes participated in activities outside the classical royal ones: For example, he gladly took part in fire fighting when there was an opportunity, rushing around giving orders and contra orders - all to the dismay of the professional fire fighters, of course. But what could they do, he was the king ...

Hunting was another hobby of his. Here he is with a hunting party (the king in the middle):


Public domain, courtesy of DigitaltMuseum/Västergötlands museum

He was generally popular and liked by his subjects. And Carl loved his people back - especially the female part of the population. Being married didn't stop him from having several affairs with actresses and other ladies from the society, resulting in a number of children who were officially fatherless but with a common knowledge of who their father was. His travels around the country also gave him many opportunities to meet his lower ranking female subjects, again encounters that - rumor tells - led to numerous unofficial children. There are quite a few Swedes today who claim descendancy from Carl XV (or his successor Oscar II, also a womanizer), because their great great grandmother met with Carl XV visiting where they were housemaids.

The coin then, why a 10 francs coin when at this time Sweden had riksdaler* as currency? It all had to do with the Latin Monetary Union, formed in 1865 by France, Belgium, Italy, and Switzerland. It was based on the French gold franc and member countries struck national but interchangeable gold and silver coins. While Sweden never became a member, strong mercantile forces argued in favor of that. The king, Carl XV, became interested, but instead of membership, these 10 francs coins were issued 1868-72 and used for trade with the LMU countries. The alternate denomination "1 carolin" was just a bit of flattery for the king.**

* Same word as German Reichsthaler.
** Derived from the Latin name form Carolus, the Swedish words carolin/karolin and carolinsk/karolinsk denote events, institutions, etc related to Carl XI and Carl XII, kings during Sweden's time as a great power during the 17th-18th centuries.

It's a 1/2 ecu, also called a silver "florin." https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces140214.html

They come up occasionally, and I settled for one with damage since all the large Lorraine coins before 1700 are really pricey.

And let's not forget the older portrait of @erfjel's Charles IV (again, about 35 years later). This time just another teston

Cardinal Charles de Bourbon, a claimant to the French throne and supported by the Catholic League, minted double tournois and 1/4 ecus as Charles X in the 1590s. Not sure how charming he was, however.