CAROLINGIANS. Charlemagne (Charles the Great). As Charles I, King of the Franks, 768-814. AR Denier (20mm, 1.75 g, 6h). Pavia mint. Struck 793/4-812. + CARLVS REX FR, cross pattée / + P A P I A, Carolus monogram. Cf. Grierson, Coins of Medieval Europe 78 (for type) ; Coupland, Charlemagne, pl. 7b, 15; Depeyrot 780E; M&G 207; MEC 1, –. Deep cabinet tone. EF.

From the Richard A. Jourdan Collection of Medieval European Coins, purchased from Charles H. Wolfe, III, 1998.

In 793/4 a major reform of the coinage took place. ‘The novi denarii, as they are called by the Council of Frankfurt of May 794, have on one face the royal monogram, in the form in which it was used to validate charters, and on the other a cross, while around them, in large letters, are circular inscriptions, reading on one face of the coin +CARLVS REX FR and on the other the name of the mint where the coin was struck. The uniformity of their design, effective throughout the kingdom, shows that the Carolingian kings had secured something their Merovingian predecessors had never attempted, full control of the coinage.’ Grierson, p.34