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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;stlnats, post: 25477899, member: 41066&quot;]For a guy who claims to specialize in metro STL National Banknotes, I seem to be wandering back to some of my earlier interests more and more.&nbsp; Altho they came from ebay, they were types I didn&#039;t have, came with nice portraits, interesting reverses with a story, pleasant toning and I thought were a reasonable balance of condition and price.</p><p><br /></p><p>Both are testones.&nbsp; The first is Clement XI, year VI (1705/6).&nbsp; A nicely detailed portrait of Clement XI paired with the 3 graces standing in the Campidoglio.&nbsp; These have irregular flans so measures between 31.5 to 32.1mm.&nbsp; According to Coffin (1946) the reverse roughly translates a &quot;Victory to the Worthy.&quot;&nbsp; I need to do a bit more research but I think its a reference to some of the pope&#039;s political struggles at the time.&nbsp; If you&#039;re keeping score, its Berman 2397 and Muntoni 64.</p><p><br /></p><p>Second is of Clement XII, year 7 (1736/7) with Fortuna on the reverse. About 30.2 mm. I have a much higher grade of this type but with the papal arms on the obverse so this is a nice add for me.&nbsp; Coffin offers several interpretations of the reverse legend, but I think the best is &quot;Trade restores the ways of prosperity.&quot;&nbsp; The papal finances were in something of a shambles when he became pope and the coin reflects some of his efforts to restore them; efforts that were at best only modestly successful.&nbsp; Berman 2619, Muntoni 25.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; [ATTACH=full]1630657[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; [ATTACH=full]1630658[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Pix are cobbled together from the seller since my I&#039;m still trying to get my camera to get better fidelity.&nbsp; Nevertheless...what fun![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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