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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;seth77, post: 2625163, member: 56653&quot;]Here is a coin minted at Castello Metelino (Mytilene) in Lesbos by Dorino Gattilusio of the Gattilusio Enterprise in the Aegean around 1430s-1440s. The coin shows the bicephal eagle with the Gattilusio coat of arms on the obverse and the Palaeologan coat of arms on the reverse:</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]576506[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The Gattilusio Enterprise consisted of a breakout branch of the Genoese Dorias, who went from a small-time family business under Palaeologan suzerainty to a full corporation-like administrative body successfully governing the northern Aegean, from Ainos to Lesbos, Thasos, Lemnos, Samothraki and Imbros, before being exterminated by the Turks in 1462/3. </p><p><br /></p><p>One of the daughters of Dorino Gattilusio -- Caterina -- was married to Constantine XI Palaeologos-Dragases in 1441 as he was still the Despot of Morea, before becoming the last Emperor of Constantinople.</p><p>An interesting book about the Gattilusio Enterprise in the Aegean is &quot;The Gattilusio Lordships and the Aegean World, 1355-1462&quot; by Christopher Wright.</p><p><br /></p><p>The coin posted was sold by Varesi, an Italian auctioneer, in 2015. Pic courtesy of acsearch: <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2747270" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2747270" rel="nofollow">https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2747270</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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