Greetings and happy holidays to all CT members. I just wrongly posted this gold coin on the Ancient coins forum, thinking it was Byzantine because it has Christ on reverse. But now it seems the coin was struck in Venice sometime around the 17th or even 18th century. Si it's a modern coin.. It weighs 3.54 g. and is likely to be a Zecchino having Saint Mark standing before a kneeling doge on the obverse. I hope it's not an imitation, but I still wish to know the attribution whatsoever. Thank you.
It does have a Byzantine feel to it. But remember, the Byzantine empire lasted into the 15th century, so this coin wouldn't be too far removed.
Thanks P14. The issue is that this coin is not Byzantine. It's just modern from Venice with denomination of Zecchino.
The coin is better known as a Venetian ducat. The city state of Venice minted coins of the same basic design, with only the name of the Doge changing in the legends for over 500 years. They began minting them in 1274 and continued until around 1790 I think it was - I'm going by memory here. And there have even been some modern issues minted if memory serves. And they were all minted of .986 gold and weighing 3.5 gm for their entire history. These coins were the first, the original gold ducats, a denomination that became the single most widely used denomination in history. Over the centuries, well over 300 entities minted and issued gold ducats. All of them of the same basic weight and gold fineness. The gold ducat is the coin that literally changed the world ! No other coin has had greater impact upon history. If you wish to attribute your coin you can do so yourself easily enough, all you need to do is to use the Krause catalogs and find the name of the Doge. The name of the Doge is found in the obverse legends.
as I look in my 18th century Krause catalog under Italian States/Venice I see coins that look like yours called Zecchino denomination. all are .999 gold and weight 3.4940 g. I guessing I narrowed it down to C#45 on your first coin pic left where the 2 people are on the top right it looks like it starts with an "M" making me think it is the Legend M. FOSCARERENVS my 2002 Krause catalog grade/value is... VG-$150 F-$300 Vf-$600 XF-$1,200 I do not know what grade your coin is and I am sure the values are higher now.
looking at my 17th century Krause has some too, but the pictures are blurry. will do more research when I get home from work at 11:30pm tonight.
Thank you coin-friend SY. I think you remember me well when we use to chat through Inbox few years ago. I was more interested in World coins by that time than today. Hope we chat again, and best wishes for Christmas and the new year 2018.
hello again. I did a quick search on Ebay for Venice Zecchinno in world coins and came up with this coin link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/VENICE-ZEC...089437?hash=item41d528b69d:g:kDEAAOSwEjFXeF3D it looks a lot like yours on the 2 guys side top right "M". I gotta go eat now before work. look over those other coins on Ebay now to compare your coin to theirs. I hope you find the 1 that looks like yours. later bye
You nailed it. The dodge is Michele Steno ( 1400 - 1413 ). It's medieval, so No Krause. I'll report this to the Ancient Forum of CT. Cheers..
You're right about Karuse not having pre-1601 - shouda thought of that But if you ever have an interest in finding out more about these coins Friedberg has them all. And the definitive reference is a book titled Zecca by Stahl. And that is not just a reference book, but the entire and very detailed history of the coins and the mint taken from the original Venetian archives, which still exist to this day. The book makes for very good reading !
