Well, despite what the title would imply, the coin isn't roman, it's from the Romans mint !! Romans is a small city, not far from Grenoble and Valence, at the very begining of the Alps, in France. It was part of the Dauphiné and Francois I°, king of France (1515-1547) had coins minted there Here is my new acquisition. Although it's a teston du dauphiné, it's not a feudal coin but by all means a royal. Francois I° (1515-1547) - Teston du Dauphiné deuxieme type Atelier de Romans (point secret sous la deuxième lettre, R couronnée au revers) + (triangle) FRANCISCVS.DEI.GRA.FRANCOR.REX (triangle) buste cuirassé et couronné a droite + (triangle) SIT.NOMEN.DNI.BENEDICTVM.R.(Mm) (triangle). Ecu ecartelé de France et Dauphiné. Grande F sur l'ecartelé (après le 8 octobre 1528, date à laquelle une lettre F brochant sur l'écartelé fut ajoutée sur les testons (source CGB VSO 09/1067)) 9,25 gr - 26/29 mm Ref : Ciani # 1141v BTW I happened to find an old thread still in the world coins forum where I posted my series of french coins back then. Below is a link, in case some of you would like to have a look : France. Q
neat coin Q, cool reverse with the dragons and "triple lillies". this modern/milled jeton is my oldest coin of france...
i'll be darned...i thought "what...those aren't dolphins"...but they kind of are... kind of a scary dolphin/sea monster hybrid? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dauphiné
Here are a few words (from Wikipedia) for your information Francis I (French: François Ier) (12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was the first King of France from the Angoulême branch of the House of Valois, reigning from 1515 until his death. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his cousin and father-in-law Louis XII, who died without a male heir. A prodigious patron of the arts, he initiated the French Renaissance by attracting many Italian artists to work on the Château de Chambord, including Leonardo da Vinci, who brought the Mona Lisa with him, which Francis had acquired. Francis' reign saw important cultural changes with the rise of absolute monarchy in France, the spread of humanism and Protestantism, and the beginning of French exploration of the New World. Jacques Cartier and others claimed lands in the Americas for France and paved the way for the expansion of the first French colonial empire. For his role in the development and promotion of a standardized French language, he became known as le Père et Restaurateur des Lettres (the "Father and Restorer of Letters").[1] He was also known as François au Grand Nez ("Francis of the Large Nose"), the Grand Colas, and the Roi-Chevalier (the "Knight-King")[1] for his personal involvement in the wars against his great rival the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain Charles V. Following the policy of his predecessors, Francis continued the Italian Wars. The succession of Charles V to the Burgundian Netherlands, the throne of Spain, and his subsequent election as Holy Roman Emperor, meant that France was geographically encircled by the Habsburg monarchy. In his struggle against Imperial hegemony, he sought the support of Henry VIII of England at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. When this was unsuccessful, he formed a Franco-Ottoman alliance with the Muslim sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, a controversial move for a Christian king at the time. Q
Lovely late-medieval piece. My first piece of hammered gold was an Ecu d'or of Francis I, and learning about him was interesting, particularly how he hosted Leonardo da Vinci and was the contemporary of Henry VIII of England.
I would have thought the coin to be a Renaissance coin, not medieval. What cut off dates do you guys have for medieval coinage?
I generally use 1500 as the "cut off," but the Renaissance began in different areas at different times (this is the problem with periodization - that and it's a modern construct). I think 1600s makes sense for coins since they start transitioning from hammered to milled at this time - at least if I were writing a book on medieval coins, I'd take it up to 1600... Lovely coin, Q!
You are technically correct. That's a bit late to be even "late medieval". " Renaissance ", indeed. I just was using my own nebulous and vague categorization of the general era. To me, " late medieval" and "early modern" blend and blur during the Renaissance, with no clear boundary. The shape of the flan and overall coin looked more medieval than modern to me, is all. As to what scholars say about defining the boundary between periods like the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Early Modern eras, I strongly suspect there isn't much firm consensus there, either, though there are probably some firmly held and hard-fought opinions, scholars being what they are.
