Greetings all, I was spending some time at a holiday party with an old friend who is an art history professor and the conversation went to coins. He specializes on the Italian renaissance paintings and expressed interest in obtaining some numismatic pieces from that era to use as instructional tools in his classes in addition to being of great personal interest. I told him I'd dig around a bit and see if I could find him what he is looking for. While he is interested in pieces in general from 15th century Europe, his more specific target is below: 1450-1494 Milan featuring any of the Sforza rulers (Francesco, Galeazzo Maria, Gran Galeazzo, Ludovico). If anyone has any leads on such things, please let me know. Condition is only important in that the imagery be visible and discernable, XF-MS pieces would be cost prohibitive. Thanks again for all your help!
I have a testone of Galeazzo Maria Sforza. It is not for sale but I could try to get photos of it if that would prove helpful. The example linked below is not my coin, but an image of it's type. Mine is not quite so high in grade, but is a solid VF. https://historyundusted.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/duke-of-milans-testone.jpg
My memory is off. I dug the coin out & got a friend to take pictures for me. It is a Galeazzo Maria testone as Duke of Milan, but a different type than I thought I remembered. The coin does not bear a date but is from 1474. The photo was taken in less than ideal conditions. Reverse shows a helmet with a dragon atop it, devouring a human. Coin is VF. I would like to have this in EF or better, but the price jump from VF to EF was more than I could afford at the time.
Wow, that's a nice piece. My friend is very eager to obtain one just like this, so if you do have any desire to part with it let me know.
Thank you. The coin is not for sale - I just like it as an example of Renaissance portraiture. Your friend can likely find one as nice (or even better) if he is patient and watches European auctions. But it will not be cheap.
Check out vcoins and search “Sforza” - a couple come up https://www.vcoins.com/en/Search.as...cords=100&SearchOnSale=False&Unassigned=False
There is this one from your link: https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/pa...s_coin_from_water_damage_/830458/Default.aspx which is described as "better than VF" (!!!).
