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The firm's name, "Merov", comes from “Merovingian”, a dynasty which ruled most of France and parts of neighboring lands from the the V century until VII century.
During VI century, the Merovingian realm was the largest and most powerful state of western Europe following the breaking up of the empire of Theodoric the Great. Theudebert (Clovis grandson) began minting his own money at the start of his reign to get rid of Byzantine coinage legal tender. For centuries, gold coinage had been a prerogative of the remote and semi-divine emperor. Putting himself on the coinage asserted that Theudebert was equal to the ruler in Constantinople. He was the first to issue distinctly Merovingian coinage to become the international trade settlement standard and the first largest Europe state reserve currency.
Only about 35 examples of this coin–issued at several different mints–are known, with most in museums. The last specimen to appear on the market sold for US$50,000 in a 2009 New York auction by Stack’s.
