Charles VII Gros De Roi (1422 - 1461)

Hi Spence - thanks for having a look.

The obverse seems to be:

fleur-de-lis at top
KAROLVS : (FR)ANCORVMX - The FR is unclear with the F looking like an N or H

The reverse
unclear at top (12 o#clock)
SIT NOME: DNI : BENEDICTVM (the I of DNI is unclear and might be a colon )

It was the shorter legends that made me think it might be a smaller denomination.

You are also correct with the crowns. There are two in opposite corners of the reverse (2 o'clock and 8 o#clock roughly) the other two spaces are clear. I checked the weight and size again and they are correct. The patina is pretty thick on the coin making it quite tricky to photograph.

thanks again for your interest

@bac, thx for the additional explanation and pictures. Yes that is a letter F. The bottom horizontal line has an exaggerated cross at the tip--one that seems to reach the entire height of the letter.

I've spent some time working through the possibilities and I'm thinking that we might have been barking up the wrong king. Compare your coin with some of the Gros Florettes minted by Charles VI (1380-1422), that is the father of Charles VII. The floriated cross now matches and the inscriptions are much closer. I do note that there are 7 or more emissions in Duplessy 387, which could help date this coin to a more precise period than 1417 to 1420. The differentiating design element is the character at the start of the obv legend. Interestingly, the starting weight of these various emissions varied between 2.5 and 3 g, which is also a little closer to your piece. Here is the numista link:

https://en.numista.com/6848

You could also add the reference Roberts 2881 to your attribution.

Thanks very much for taking the time and effort to track this down. That's definitely it OK.

It can be difficult to see medieval lettering until you get your "eye in" and know what you are looking for - but very rewarding once you do.

Thanks again.