Jean II Le Bon (1350-1364). Gold Mouton d'or, undated. Lamb and cruciform staff with flying banner. Rev. Floriated cross in quadrilobe, fleurs de lis in angles (Fr 280; Ciani 354). In NGC holder graded MS 63, sharply struck example with lovely mint bloom. Value $3,500 - UP
Jean II was popularly known as le Bon ("the Good"), but most of his reign was filled with bad. In 1356 he was captured by the Black Prince of Wales at the Battle of Poitiers as part of the ongoing Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) and unemployed mercenary bands plundered the French countryside at will. The Black Death had killed almost half of the population and in 1358 those peasants who had survived rose up in a bloody revolt known as the Jacquerie.

Mouton d'or ("gold sheep") was the nickname given to the gold denomination introduced by Jean II in 1355. The name distinguishes the coin from the typologically identical agnel d'or ("gold lamb") struck by Philippe IV and his sons. Jean II''s mouton enjoyed great popularity and was frequently imitated in the Low Countries. The obverse type depicts the Agnus Dei ("Lamb of God"), a Christian symbol that had often associations with the Crusading movement in France.