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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;talerman, post: 3244875, member: 89314&quot;]This appears to be a luigino struck for Maria-Maddalena Centurioni, wife of Pascal Malaspina (1663-1669). Luigini were copies of French coins struck for the Levant trade. It is an interesting story. </p><p><br /></p><p>In 1659 Anne-Marie-Louise de Bourbon, after a tumultuous life, retired to her territories in Dombes and started to strike coins at her Trévoux mint modeled on royal French issues.&nbsp; One coin, a 1/12 écu worth 5 sols, was for some reason so popular in the Ottoman Empire that it was valued there at 10 sols. The Trévoux mint soon concentrated all its resources on striking these coins. The royal coin on which it was modeled, the 5 sols of Louis XIII and XIV, was equally popular and was exported in large quantities. Soon mints in other countries, especially small Italian mints, got into the business, striking their own imitations of the Dombes and French royal issues.&nbsp;&nbsp; (The later Maria Theresia Taler is another example of a coin struck by many mints (not just Austrian)&nbsp; for export to Asia where it was well accepted).&nbsp; Eventually supply overwhelmed demand and also the reputation of the luigini was hurt by some mints producing debased coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>Emperor Leopold I granted the mint right to Marquis Pasquale Malaspina on April 10 1666 and he quickly got into the luigino business with a mint at Fosdinovo (and later also at Ponsanello).&nbsp;&nbsp; Most (although not your one ) were struck in the name of his wife, Maria-Maddalena Centurioni, perhaps because of the feminine bust on the coin. In Jean de Mey&#039;s book, <i>Repertoire Général des Luidgini</i> (Wemmel, Belgium 1989) the obverse legend on your coin seems to be&nbsp; # 23 HEC.EST.VIRTVTIS.IMAGO with perhaps an error (does yours start HES rather than HEC ?) and the reverse legend #B.&nbsp; This particular&nbsp; obv./rev. combination is # 85 in his catalogue.&nbsp; It is also apparently listed as Gamberini 89&nbsp; in <i>La imitazioni e le contreffazioni monetarie nel Mondo </i>, Vol. IV, by Cesare Gamberini di Scarfea (Bologna 1972).&nbsp;&nbsp; de Mey lists under Maria Maddalena Centurioni 26 obverse legends and 40 different reverse legends in Fosdinovo.&nbsp; Leaving aside varieties, the coin itself is not particularly rare. </p><p><br /></p><p>If your coin is really écu size, that would be special and , as far as I know, unknown. Luigini normally have a diameter of about 20 mm and weigh about 2.15 g.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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