LOUIS COINS

During the reign of King 14. Louis in France, the French mint printed coin series in the 1650s. Louis coins, which has French money, reached an international dimension between 1655 and 1675.

      

The Turks did not understand much about money. Even women had less information than men. After 1656, there was an intense demand for the French coins in the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman women wanted to have earrings, necklaces and bracelets made of Louis. This situation led the Louis coins to become commercial goods.

      

The French thought to exploit the purity of the Turks. They have used illegal means for this. They printed Louis with a lower percentage of silver and more copper. In order to avoid being accused of counterfeiting, they contacted the Princess of Dambes and the Prince of Orange, who was a mint in Trevoux and who was formerly authorized to print money. So, they printed false Louis coins.

      

As time goes on, the mint of prince and princess started producing worse Louis. People who bought Louis had no idea how much silver the money contains. They also did not know which mint printed the fake Louis.

     

The Turks did not pay any attention to the content of the Louis coins and continued to buy Louis. Also, the Ottoman army surrounding Heraklion would not accept if their salaries weren’t paid with Louis. Meanwhile, counterfeiters went to religious scientists to clear their conscience.

     
 This trick began to be evaluated two years later, in 1667. The British brought this out. The Ottoman accused the French government of counterfeiting. The printing of Louis coins was banned in 1666

                                                                                                             Asiye YILDIRIM