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 Replies: 303 / Views: 12,991 |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2602 Posts |
This is my other Clement X coin, again from the Gubbio mint and it's a bit grotty. It's a quattrino showing the closed holy door on the reverse. It doesn't seem to be on Numista and my Krause suggests it's KM31  |
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Moderator
 United States
68174 Posts |
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Moderator
United States
160690 Posts |
Quote:
This is my other Clement X coin, again from the Gubbio mint and it's a bit grotty. Very nice! 
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
57198 Posts |
Nice add, Bacchus2.
Errers and Varietys.
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
4983 Posts |
I love these quattrini! And the grosso, too. Quote:
You might be able to convince yourself that the reverse is St. George slaying the dragon if you can find the saint's horizontal arm just above the center of the coin, holding a lance which goes diagonally from around 11:00 to 5:00 ... and the dragon's S-shaped tail near 7:00 I've spent enough time looking at worn-down 18th century Russian coppers with St. George that this one looks crystal clear to me. It's better preserved than many Catherine II dengas. (That said, one detail that did confuse me until I saw the better-preserved Numista example: the horse's head faces left.) |
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Pillar of the Community
  United States
7031 Posts |
Indeed, a nice pair of additions. The wear on the grosso conveniently misses both the portrait and the main design element of the Altieri family arms. I think that doorway on the quattrino is used in Jubilee years, but I will check. @Bacchus2, I'll echo j1m on your having picked up lots of neat quattrini. I commented earlier in the week that no pope has been elected at such an advanced age since Alexander VIII (1689 at the age of 79 and 5 months), but Clement X was even older, at 79 years and 9 months when elected over his protestations in 1670. I have one more coin of his, this teston struck in 1672:   Saint Venantius, pictured on the reverse, is a patron saint of Camerino, where Clement had served as bishop for quite a few years earlier in his career Edited by tdziemia
03/28/2025 5:18 pm
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Moderator
United States
160690 Posts |
Quote:
I have one more coin of his, this teston struck in 1672: Very nice!
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Moderator
United States
68174 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2602 Posts |
That is a very nice silver from 1672. I really like the styling of the reverse. I always find it amazing the skill of the engravers who worked on the dies of coins prior to the mechanisation of the process.
I had a "google" to find out more about Saint Venantius who I knew nothing about - bit of a grizzly story. I was wondering if the cross design on the pennant was related to Camerino but I don't think it is. Perhaps just a more generic "cross" design.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7031 Posts |
I hope I won;t offend anybody with these comments, but here goes... The story of St. Venantius is awfully similar to that of St. Pancras, who probably was a real person, since his cult dates back to at least the 5th century. Pilgrimage was a very big business (especially for small towns) in medieval Europe, and there was a hierarchy of "drawing power" among the saints whose relics were the focus of the pilgrims' adoration. At the top of the heap were apostles and martyrs. Lower were pious men like bisops, abbots, priest or monks whose holy works made them "saintly" rather than a gruesome death while defending their faith. The Wikipedia article mentions Saint Venantius replacing Saint Ansovinus as the patron of Camerino. Ansovinus was a real person, a 9th century bishop of Camerino known for his good deeds. And he is all over the earliest coins of Camerino: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces348260.htmlBut if you want to attract pilgrims, you need a martyr, so quite a few previously unknown saints sprang up all over the western Christian world to meet that market demand. Quite likley Venantius was one of them. Edited by tdziemia
03/29/2025 09:46 am
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2602 Posts |
That's really interesting - thanks for taking the time to expand on that.
I don't know if you've ever read the series of Books by Ellis Peters (pen name of Edith Mary Pargeter) called Cadfael? Most of them were made into a really great TV series of the same name staring David Jacobi. A couple of those episodes weave the story around the workings of medieval monasteries and the relics/pilgrims "industry" and how they needed their own saint etc - though of course set in England and not Italy but I'm sure the issues were the same.
It's a great series that I'd highly recommend.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7031 Posts |
I have indeed read a few, watched a few, and my wife (who lived in the UK 6 years and is an avid mystery lover) probably has the whole series in a box somewhere.
Please feel free to post any others from this slice of the 17th century.
Tomorrow we move back to the middle thisrd of the century:
Clement IX (1667-1669)
Alexander VII (1655-1667)
Innocent X (1644-1655)
Urban VIII (1623-1644)
I am very light on this slice, with nothing until Innocent X.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2602 Posts |
The next one I have I think is this half Grozzo of Alexander VII (1655-1667) with the reverse showing: TEMPE / RATO / SPLEN / DEAT / VSV Legend in shield According the the Numista entry this translates to "Shine for good use". Something someone has clearly taken as literal as the surfaces of this coin are unfortunately really striated, as if someone had rubbed it on sandpaper. It is much nicer in-hand to be fair - but still ...  Edited by Bacchus2
03/30/2025 10:07 am
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Moderator
United States
68174 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
57198 Posts |
Nice addition, Bacchus2. Errers and Varietys.
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Replies: 303 / Views: 12,991 |
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Posted 03/28/2025 08:02 am
Uncirculated American Silver Eagles 
