I found a couple interesting articles in the Journal of Modern History from 1933, and thought I would pass the information along to anyone who is interested. The most interesting article is: "The Dunkirk Money" by Clyde L. Grose. King Charles II, anxious to raise money after the British monarchy was restored, sold the city of Dunkirk to the French for 5 million livres. He insisted on being paid immediately and in silver coin.

This is a detailed account of how the money was gathered in French ecu coins and physically transported to England, where most of it was recoined over a period of years into British coin. I don't know whether this massive recoinage has been recorded in the numismatic literature of France or England, but it does coincide with the introduction of minting "machinery" in the London Mint from France. This 18 page article was published in the Journal of Modern History (University of Chicago Press), Volume 5 #1 in March 1933.

Some other articles in this volume include: "Spanish Treasure -- Casual Revenue of the Crown" by Cyrus H. Karraker (about British and other unauthorized attempts to recover Spanish coin from shipwrecks during the 1680's); also "How the French Deputies Were Paid in 1789-1791" by C. L. Benson; "The East India Directors in 1784" by Holden Furber; and "Studies of World War Propaganda 1914-1933" by Ralph Haswell Lutz.

I had this bound volume for sale on my book site, but it has already sold. I mainly sell on ABE Books (www.abebooks.com), but also have books listed on www.biblio.com and www.half.com. My seller name is Chinasmith.