Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/French écu in silver (1784) and gold (1641)

French écu in silver (1784) and gold (1641)

Voting period is over. Please don't add any new votes. Voting period ends on 12 Oct 2015 at 18:07:16 (UTC)

Reason: High quality, high EV. Kingdom of France, silver and gold écu
Original: Kingdom of France, pair of écu in silver (1784) and gold (1641)
Articles in which these images appear: Écu
FP category for this image: Currency
Creator: Kingdom of France
From the National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History

French écu in silver and gold

One silver écu (1784) depicting Louis XVI of France

One gold écu (1641) struck during the reign of Louis XIII of France

Support as nominator – Godot13 (talk) 18:07, 2 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Support, quite wish they could be a bit more shiny. — Cirt (talk) 20:45, 2 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Support, but I do think the silver ecu appears a bit oversharpened. — Chris Woodrich (talk) 23:39, 2 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Chris- Interesting... I've never sharpened any coin image in processing so I wonder if it happened during shooting (or if someone else was in the raw file before me)?--Godot13 (talk) 01:06, 3 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Why does the gold have spots of red? And I don't recall silver forming iridescent oxide layers. Any particular reasons why this one has it? Nergaal (talk) 04:28, 3 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
- It is fairly common for silver and gold coins to develop toning over time (unless they have been kept in an air-tight environment or they have been cleaned). Both coins are well over 200 and 300 years old respectively and are in extremely good condition for their age.--Godot13 (talk) 05:27, 3 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I knew some metals get the rainbow iridescence but never realized silver does it to. However, I really don't understand how does gold get "toned". You need reaaaaly special conditions to get it to oxidize. I am not doubting the coin quality, I am just worried about staining by some external layer/substance. Also of curiosity, what sort of grading would these get based on how old they are? Nergaal (talk) 06:36, 3 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Silver écu – technically AU (Almost Uncirculated) but given the eye appeal it could be graded as mint state. Gold écu – fully struck AU (and its existence for 374 years might partially qualify as a "special condition").--Godot13 (talk) 18:34, 3 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Support – Yann (talk) 21:52, 4 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Support – Jobas (talk) 20:31, 5 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Support --Tremonist (talk) 13:08, 6 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Support -- DreamSparrow ^Chat 14:10, 10 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted File:France 1784-A Ecu (Louis16).jpg --Armbrust ^{The Homunculus} 18:07, 12 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Promoted File:France 1641 Ecu d'Or (Louis13).jpg --Armbrust ^{The Homunculus} 18:07, 12 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]