France. Aquitaine. Duchy of Aquitaine. Edward the Black Prince, 1362-1372. Hardi, circa 1368-1372. (Silver, 18.5 mm, 0.92 g). Agen, A at the end of the obverse legend. + ED PO G… G. AGLIE. A (Edward first son of the king of England) Bust of the prince crowned with roses, facing under a canopy, holding a sword in his right hand and raising his left hand. Rev. rose PRn CPS rose AQIT AnIE (Prince of Aquitaine) Cross cutting the legend, flanked on the 1st and 4th by a lily, on the 2nd and 3rd by a leopard. Clean, well-struck portrait. Blank wide and spotted on the right. Dark patina on reverse. Small crack at 1 o'clock. Bd. 513. PA. 2924 var. Hewitt. type 2, var. E. 208b (RRR). Elias 306. Very rare and Very Fine. Ex Beneut Collection (sold with label). Ex CGF, 16th June 2000, lot 1231. The manufacture of silver Hardi began around 1368 in Agen. The Agen region came under royal control at the end of the reign of Charles V, known as ‘the Wise’. Elias, in the sales catalogue of his collection, classifies this coin without certainty in the Agen workshop. Apart from the specimen in his collection, he knew of no other Hardi of this type. Our coin, in an identical style, completes the reading of the specimen in the Elias collection. Edward the Black Prince (1330-1376) was the eldest son of Edward III Plantagenet and Philippa of Hainaut. He took up arms for the first time at the Battle of Crecy in 1346, where he was greatly impressed by the chivalrous attitude of John the Blind, King of Bohemia, who preferred to die rather than suffer the shame of defeat. His heraldic arms will be ostrich feathers, which the King of Bohemia already wore. Edward the Black Prince was in Aquitaine in 1355 and began a campaign in Poitou the following year. He crushed the French at Poitiers and took King John the Good prisoner. The Treaty of Bretigny in May 1360 confirmed the independence of Aquitaine. Edward became its first prince in 1362. He arrived in Bordeaux in 1363. War with France resumed in 1369. After the first English defeats in Aquitaine, the Black Prince returned to England in 1371 and the following year renounced his principality. He died in 1376. His father Edward III died the following year. Richard II, son of the Black Prince, ascended the throne.