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Posted 06/05/2025 3:40 pm
Either by luck or "great minds think alike" I was also preparing an example (though a medieval) like spence's with a snake. Not bought for beauty but (like Sap) for interest.
This Milan grosso of 5 soldi struck under Galeazzo Maria Sforza barely fits one of my collecting themes. I picked it up because I couldn't resist the combination of imagery and information it contains.
The right image should probably be considered the obverse, as the legend begins on that side, and the design there is why I couldn't resist the coin. While there is no lack of swords, shields, spears, helmets and armor on medieval coins, I'd never seen this before: what looks to me like three flaming arrows with buckets attached. The CNI says "I tre tizzoni con le secchie" which comes up in Google translator as "three embers with buckets."
The legend begins with a tiny bust of St. Ambrose, then G3 M SF VICECO DVX MLI V for Galeazzo Maria Sforza Visconti Fifth Duke of Milan ... Galeazzo's father Francesco Sforza had married Bianca Maria Visconti, the only legitimate child of Filippo Maria Visconti, the last of the Visconti rulers of Milan. So Galeazzo Maria was the first in the combined Sforza-Visconti dynasty.
On the reverse is the heraldic device of the Visconti family, the crowned biscione, a large viper from which a child is emerging (or, depending on your sources, being eaten. Nice thought ... that your family was born of a poisonous snake). The legend continues with Galeazzo's remaining titles PP ANGLE Q3 CO AC IANVE D. I can't quite figure the "ANGLE Q3" but the PP CO should be Count of Pavia, and IANVE D is Lord of Genoa.
This Milan grosso of 5 soldi struck under Galeazzo Maria Sforza barely fits one of my collecting themes. I picked it up because I couldn't resist the combination of imagery and information it contains.
The right image should probably be considered the obverse, as the legend begins on that side, and the design there is why I couldn't resist the coin. While there is no lack of swords, shields, spears, helmets and armor on medieval coins, I'd never seen this before: what looks to me like three flaming arrows with buckets attached. The CNI says "I tre tizzoni con le secchie" which comes up in Google translator as "three embers with buckets."
The legend begins with a tiny bust of St. Ambrose, then G3 M SF VICECO DVX MLI V for Galeazzo Maria Sforza Visconti Fifth Duke of Milan ... Galeazzo's father Francesco Sforza had married Bianca Maria Visconti, the only legitimate child of Filippo Maria Visconti, the last of the Visconti rulers of Milan. So Galeazzo Maria was the first in the combined Sforza-Visconti dynasty.
On the reverse is the heraldic device of the Visconti family, the crowned biscione, a large viper from which a child is emerging (or, depending on your sources, being eaten. Nice thought ... that your family was born of a poisonous snake). The legend continues with Galeazzo's remaining titles PP ANGLE Q3 CO AC IANVE D. I can't quite figure the "ANGLE Q3" but the PP CO should be Count of Pavia, and IANVE D is Lord of Genoa.
Edited by tdziemia
06/05/2025 3:42 pm
06/05/2025 3:42 pm
