French hens were a luxury import in the 16th Century and are therefore said to represent the expensive gifts gold, frankincense and myrrh. Alternatively they are also thought to symbolise faith, hope and charity. As there are no apparent French hens in the archive I have chosen three French minted Roman coins.

3 French Hens (or coins….)

The largest of the three coins is also the earliest. It dates to 307-318 AD and was minted in Lyon during the reign of Constantine I. The two smaller coins were both minted in Arles. One dates to 364-378 AD and shows the Roman Emperor Valens. The other coin dates to 367-383 and depicts Gratian.

Feature image recreated from Xavier Romero-Frias https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:XRF_12days.jpg under CC license