KINGDOM OF FRANCE - FRANÇOIS IER (1515-1547) Écu... Lot 621

KINGDOM OF FRANCE - FRANÇOIS IER (1515-1547) Écu d'or au soleil du Dauphiné, 4th type, Crémieu (letter X), 1515-1528 Duplessy 785, almost Mint Mounted in a 750/000 gold brooch. Weight6.36 g. Provenance: Docteur Guillaume-Joseph BAILLEAU (1830-1909), then by descent. Biography: Nicknamed "Docteur silex", this doctor from Pierrefitte-sur-Loire was a precursor of modern archaeology, particularly for the history of the Bourbonnais region. His studies of Saint-Pourçain-sur-Besbre and the Chatelperron caves, notably through excavations of the Grotte des fées and the Grotte Bailleau from 1867 to 1870, led to an understanding of the primitive societies he described in his book "L'homme pendant la période quaternaire dans le Bourbonnais" (Man during the Quaternary Period in the Bourbonnais) in 1872. He was also a regular correspondent of eminent specialists such as Gabriel de Mortillet, Joseph Déchelette and Édouard Lartet, through whom he amassed a major archaeological collection of prehistoric, Gallo-Roman and medieval artefacts from the Allier and elsewhere in Europe. This collection was dispersed several times, part of which was donated to the Musée Anne de Beaujeu in Moulins (Allier), and some of which can be seen at the Musée d'Archéologie Nationale in Saint Germain en Laye (78). A monographic exhibition will be held at the Musée Anne de Beaujeu in summer 2023. Dr. Bailleau was a member of the Société française d'archéologie, the Société d'émulation du Bourbonnais (whose interest in the Grotte des Fées he presented in 1869) and the Académie des sciences, as well as the Académie des Arts et Belles-lettres de Mâcon. He was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur in 1872 (services rendered as an enlisted military doctor). Expert: Emmanuel de MONTEYNARD".