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 Replies: 15 / Views: 1,533 |
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Pillar of the Community
2087 Posts |
I have been waiting very impatiently for this coin since winning it in an auction on the 20th of January. It arrived today and this evening I photographed it. Details its 20.5mm in diameter and weighs 3.54 grams. It was issued under the Doge Simon Boccanegra during his second dogeship ( 1356 - 1363) Simon Boccanegra was Genoa's 1st and fourth Doge. He was the first doge for 4 years from15th September 1339 until December 23, 1344, when he was voted out of office at a meeting he had called. His position as doge was not overly comfortable as there were a number of attempts on his life. During his first Dogeship, he had 103 mounted bodyguards. In 1356 he managed to regain power as the fourth Doge he died in office in 1363, it is believed he was poisoned. my main reference is a bit of a bipolar book. It is both useful and frustratingly parochial. It is "The Artistic and Technical History of Genoese coins" by Giovanni Pesce, published 1976 by Stringa publications of Genoa. When I write "frustratingly parochial". I am not overstating the problem. Venice and Genoa had centuries of commercial, maritime and military conflict and this book seems, in places, to be written to continue the conflict and reinforce the primacy of Genoese numismatics. Some medieval gold coins, particularly of the 14th century are spectacular this coin is one of them. I have a full sized Tiff of the coin(it's a huge file so don't download it over a metered connection) if you have the bandwidth and want to see how nice medieval gold can then download it( but remember it is copyrighted) I have also posted a substantially reduced image here as well: legend Ob: DVX IANVENSIVM QVARTV rev: CONRADV REX ROMANORVM Google drive link here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1y...rORusEcA1sos Edited by austrokiwi
02/08/2019 1:13 pm
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
Lovely coin, the details are really sharp. What is the obverse design?
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Pillar of the Community
 2087 Posts |
Quote:
What is the obverse design? Some(most) call it a castle... but it is actually a fortified tower with gates below. Edited by austrokiwi
02/08/2019 3:49 pm
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Moderator
United States
23731 Posts |
I figured that what it probably was, similar to the Roman Campgate type
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
7942 Posts |
Super coin, and I agree on your comment on design of 14th c. medieval gold. I have a couple from Brabant. A question on legends: Obverse it looks like there is an L after QVARTV, and reverse there appears to be an O after ROMANORVM. Are these indicative of the mint or mintmaster? Something else? Lastly ... Simon BlackMouth? One can only guess.  |
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Pillar of the Community
2087 Posts |
Quote:
Obverse it looks like there is an L after QVARTV, and reverse there appears to be an O after ROMANORVM. Are these indicative of the mint or mintmaster? Something else? Well spotted. As hinted the reference I have isn't great. It's in English but obviously translated from Italian... and not translated well. flipping through the pages I found a better description of the legends. ( seems I didn't list the full legend): The obverse is: O, ( CROSS) IANVENSIVM QVATV Reverse is R,CONRADV REX ROMANORVM. The text then refers back to earlier types... and flipping back I find this statement and it has me intrigued: " Ther are numerous variants of this genovino involving particular symbols: hammer, mace, tree, shield, small castle as well as minters seal, which is more frequently found in the inscription on the O, and sometimes the R. I am assuming the "L" is an "R" |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
Absolutely fascinating information attached to a fabulous coin.
I can understand your impatience whilst waiting to add it to your collection. Doing the research adds to the fun.
Edited by sel_69l
02/08/2019 4:58 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7942 Posts |
On legends, I get this: Obv: + DVX:IANVENSIVM.QVARTV.(crescent) L Rev: + CONRADV.REX:ROMANORVM. O Corpus Nummorum Italicorum Volume III has Liguria, https://www.numismaticadellostato.i...ction=invoke and based on what I have downloaded for other parts of Italy, you will likely find every conceivable small variant of this issue. Edited by tdziemia
02/08/2019 9:33 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7942 Posts |
Attribution:
CNI, Volume III, p. 64. #23
Obv: + DVX : IANVENSIVM . qVARTV. L Castello in 8 archi doppi con I soliti ornamenti e c. perl. (Castle inside 8 double arches with typical ornamentation and beaded circle?)
Rev. + CONRADV. REX : ROMANORVM . D Croce in ornati (Cross inside decorations?)
gr. 3,56. C' SM
Edited by tdziemia
02/09/2019 08:56 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7066 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
2087 Posts |
Quote:
CNI, Volume III, p. 64. #23
+ DVX : IANVENSIVM qVARTV. L
+ CONRADV. REX : ROMANORVM D
gr. 3,56. C' SM I think I may one day get CNI.. or hopefully the Central Italy volume of MEC will be published. Interesting how the Genoese published book orders the legend... CNI ordering, by starting after the cross, makes much more sense. I have attached some crops of the two letters concerned. One seems to be an L( but there is a slight possibility it is something else), the other is definitely an "O". I know that with medieval coins there can be many variations Engravers made mistakes or did not faithfully reproduce the "image" when cutting new dies. Edit: I picked the coin up and eyeballed it. Just tilting the coin slightly to the right and that "O" starts to look a lot like a "D"  Edited by austrokiwi
02/09/2019 01:45 am
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Moderator
United States
34413 Posts |
A special coin to be sure. Well done!
Also, the left hand image above definitely shows a letter L.
"If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7942 Posts |
Yes, that exaggerated (at least to 21st century eyes) upward bit shows up a lot on Gothic Ls.
@austrokiwi, I agree that final letter reverse looks like an O. Comparing to the letter O in ROMANORVM, however, it is more ovoid than round, so perhaps this is what differentiates it? I would not have called it a D. And certainly the gothic D we see in all of those medieval French gros bearing the name of LVDOVICUS do not look like this.
I will go back to the attribution post and add the description of each side from CNI.
Interestingly, the genovino is the only coin issued by Simon in his second stint as doge. No silver coins, though he issued various types in silver (grossi, denari) in his first term as doge.
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Pillar of the Community
2087 Posts |
According to Pesce there was also a grosso issued by him when he was the fourth Doge, frustratingly it was, apparently, no different to the Grosso issued when he was the first Doge. I do wonder why he was called black mouth.... bad teeth?
Edited by austrokiwi
02/09/2019 08:59 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7942 Posts |
Or he swore a lot  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7942 Posts |
Quote:
According to Pesce there was also a grosso issued by him when he was the fourth Doge, frustratingly it was, apparently, no different to the Grosso issued when he was the first Doge. I made a mistake in my earlier post. After the 44 variants on the genovino, I missed that there was also a grosso in Simon's second term. According to CNI, the legends are different. For the first reign of Simon, the legend reads DVX IANVENSIVM PRIMV (or some variant), "First Doge of Genoa." For the second reign of Simon, the legend reads DVX IANVENSIVM QVARTV, "Fourth Doge of Genoa," as on your genovino. Edited by tdziemia
02/09/2019 09:10 am
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Replies: 15 / Views: 1,533 |
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Posted 02/08/2019 12:51 pm
