Post Your Papal States Coins - Reverse Chronological Schedule By Ruler

Nice additions.

Today I can add this coin. It's not pretty - on that I think we can all agree - but hopefully it is interesting.

It is a Clement VIII 1595 1 Douzain (at least the date is quite clear) from (probably) the Avignon mint. The reverse shows a scalloped cross, cantoned at 1 and 4 quadrants with Jerusalem cross and at 2 and 3 with a rampant lion. The Numista example shows a lot more detail - https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces58767.html


However the interesting (to me) thing is the countermark of a fleur-de-lis within oval. I'm not familiar enough with what was going on here at the time to know what this represents.

Very nice addition, Bacchus2!

That is really a great coin!

First, some political background ... Near the beginning of the thread there is a map of the (Italian) Papal States, but I neglected to mention that the pope also held territory in the south of France from around 1300 (which was added to in the 1340s) called the Comtat Venaissin. When Philip IV of France was able to engineer putting a Frenchman in the papacy (Clement V in 1305), the papal residence was moved from Rome to Avignon for most of the 14th century (1309-1377) before moving back to Rome.
But the popes continued to hold the enclave of the Comtat Venaissin, which was eventually surrounded by the Kingdom of France. And coins continued to be struck there under papal authority until this territory was "repatriated" by French Revolutionaries in 1791.

I don't have any reference books for this part of France, but was able to find this auction listing for a countermarked coin like yours:
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=8803339
Based on the description, it looks like this papal douzain was valued as a French quinzain by the reign of Louis XIII, so my guess is that the countermark is the mark that signifies this coin would be accepted as legal tender when it circulated in France?

It looks like the counterstamping happened in (or shortly after) 1640, which is, indeed, "at the latter part of Louis XIII's reign".

TL/DR: an edict in 1640 revaluated the old douzains to 15 deniers (quinzain), and the coins were counterstamped to represent the revaluation. It appears that most of the counterstamped coins were 16th century French ones, but there were enough "feudal" (including papal) examples for those to also be relatively common. They can get even more worn than this.

There's actually an entry on Numista, which repeats some of the same details: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces37353.html

I have nothing else to add unfortunately until it's the turn of Sixtus V. But looking forward to seeing something from those short-lived rulers.

I've thought exactly the same thing. Even the variety of types struck seem to change annually and by city mint. Not in the same league as German Notgeld variety of course but almost trending in that direction.

This is my Sixtus V coin. It is a ND (1585-1590) 1 Baiocco from the Montalto delle Marche mint. The reverse shows the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, flying upwards, radiant. Like many of my coins from the Papal States it's very dark and tricky to photograph.

Again I don't think it's on Numista. .


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Super coin!
I don't have anything struck at Montalto, and possibly never will.

That part of Italy (the region of Marche) stands out by having an enormous number of mints, even by Italian standards (OK ... I probably should have done more research before making that claim, but I don't think anyone is going to check )

Since I don't think many Americans are familiar with this part of Italy ... Marche is a region on the Adriatic (east) coast of Italy, just east/southeast of Tuscany. It's only 3600 square miles; that's two thirds the size of Connecticut, or about the size of Devon + Cornwall.
In the 15th-16th centuries, these cities/towns had active mints striking Papal coins for some period of time:
Ancona
Ascoli
Camerino
Fabriano
Fano
Fermo
Macerata
Montalto
Pesaro
Recanati

I was able to squeeze most of them on this map of the region (leaving some reference points for Tuscany and Umbria, with which most collectors are more familiar)