★ The Black Prince ★

ANGLO-GALLIC, Aquitaine: Edward ‘the Black Prince’ (1362-72), AR hardi d’argent. Poitiers, 0.98g, 19.5mm.
Obv: ЄD PO GЄnT RЄGI ΛGЄ, Half-length figure of the Prince facing beneath Gothic canopy, holding sword in right hand and raising left in benediction
Rev: PRn CPS ΛQI TΛn, long cross pattée; lis in first and fourth quarters, leopard in second and third, small P between Q and I
Elias 205b, Dupl. Féodales 1126.
From the Orfew collection, ex William Rosenblum Auction 47A lot 105, 29.06.2017; ex Owl (John Barton) 10.81, #154
Estimate: 200

Edward the Black Prince was heir to the throne and a leading knight in the Hundred Years’ War, but he died of illness before his father. His son became king upon Edward III’s death, as Richard II. It is uncertain how he earned his moniker; possibly due to the black field on his “shield for peace,” or else from the French view of his bloody deeds in Aquitaine.