PARIS, CIRCA 1840/1850, STRUCK WITH THE POST 1840 FRENCH EXPORT MARK FOR GOLD AND THE 1838-1847 PARISIAN GUARANTEE MARK FOR SMALL GOLD ITEMS

The diamond initial on the cover is the cypher of Leopold I (1790-1865), King of Belgium 1831-1865. Leopold was the youngest son of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and the Countess Augusta Reuss-Ebersdorf, and later became a prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. After Belgium asserted its independence from the Netherlands on 4 October 1830, the Belgian National Congress considered several candidates and eventually asked Leopold to become King of the newly formed country. He was elected on 4 June, accepted, and became "King of the Belgians" on 26 June 1831. Leopold, who first married Princess Charlotte Augusta, the short-lived daughter of King George IV, later married Princess Louise-Marie of France.