Jay's (Me) Educational 1200's - 1500's Italian Grosso Thread. Add To It!

On page 3, in a series of posts between 12/6 and 12/10/2025, I posted several types of Florentine "fiorini" (grossos): one from the late 13th century, and two from the 15th, each differing in how Saint John is portrayed.
I just added this early 14th century type, MIR 44 (1306-1313) where he stands between two plants. It can be dated to 1312 by the crescent moon mintmaster's mark around 1:00 on the reverse.



There is an earlier type dateable to 1296 which is similar, but John holds a scroll with the word ECCE (Behold!). On my radar screen, but tough to find.

Thanks for adding yours!

Yeah, Newtraffic got us stared with his nice Venetian grossi, but as I took the thread in the "educational" direction, I've used a lot of images that are not of my own coins, but help illustrate some of the local styles.

I have a few coming. By the way, tdziemia, the Grosso of Enrico Dandolo was not of him (from the thread soley mentioning Enrico) I bought it mislabeled and the seller is making extremely good on his mistake. He is sending me another Grosso which I'll post soon enough

I can't believe it was late last year that this thread was begun by newtraffic2, and 8 months ago left unfinished .

The history of the grosso in southern Italy was left hanging, and as luck would have it, I've been working on the Sicily/Naples sections of Numista recently.

To recap ...
The Norman king Roger II struck a large silver coin (2.5 grams) called a ducalis based on Byzantne designs around 1140 (post of 12/25/2025). In several senses, it could be considered as a sort of prototype for the Venetian grosso which followed it about 40 years later (covered at the beginning of the thread).
The next major development, in 1279 was striking of the first Italian coin to (nearly) match the French gros tournois in size and silver content, the carlino of Charles I of Anjou, called a saluto d'argento (post of 12/23/2025).
In 1303, his son, Charles II replaced the first carlino type with a new design, featuring the enthroned king obverse, and a cross decorated with fleur-de-lis reverse (MIR 24, N#& 71471):

Copyright Classical Numismatic Group 2025

The "Gigliato" named after the profusion of lilies (gigli in Italian, and presumably from a similar latin root) endured in Naples for 150 years. Evidence of its success in Mediterranean trade came from its imitation in the Crusader states:
https://en.numista.com/482155
https://en.numista.com/116414

In the mid-15th century, Ferdinand I of Naples changed the design again, first to a coronation scene, giving the carlino a new nickname, "coronato" (MIR 66, N#558715), and eventually (1488) to a coin bearing a large Renaissance portrait though the nickname "coronato" remained (MIR 68-71):