Years ago, when I was reading Benvenuto Cellini's autobiography I was surprised to learn that he had minted coins. I went online, and after some frantic googling was even more surprised that many of those coins could even be purchased! I fantasized about owning one, but it always seemed like a distant possibility. And then, almost exactly a year ago I won a doppio carlino of Clement VII depicting Christ and St. Peter, from NAC. I had a Cellini coin, a Cellini sculpture all of my own. I thought I would be content with just one Cellini coin. But then another one popped up for sale with a low(ish) opening bid, and then another, and another. It's hard to have just one very nice coin-- it wants company. So after a year I've managed to acquire 5 coins of Cellini: every coin that is both described in his autobiography (there are several attributed to him based on style alone) and obtainable (three are so rare they're only found in museum collections). In addition to collecting coins of Cellini, I have sought out coins minted by other renaissance artists. Except for the first coin listed, I have posted write-ups of the coins as I've posted them, which I've linked to here. This is not a ranked list. Coins of Cellini: FIRENZE ALESSANDRO DE' MEDICI (1532-1537) Scudo d'oro del sole. O/ Crowned coat of arms R/ Ornate cross with cherubs at the corners. MIR 97 Au g 3,30 aVF I am still waiting for this coin to wend its way through italian customs, but I couldn't NOT post it in my year-end list because it completes my Cellini set (and is the only one I've yet to post). It's a scudo of Alessandro de' Medici, with his coat of arms on the obverse, and a cross surrounded by cherubim on the reverse. I love the little howling cherub faces, which remind me of Borromini's baroque decorations in the church St. Ivo alla Sapienza. Cellini describes getting in an argument with the master of the mint-- that is resolved by the duke himself-- because Cellini's dies have been mixed with the mint master's more pedestrian dies, thereby diluting the quality of his art. If you recall from my past write-ups, he had almost exactly the same fight with regards to his scudo of Paul III. Autobiography of Cellini, LXXXI: Afterwards I made dies for the golden crowns; this crown had a cross upon one side with some little cherubim, and on the other side his Excellency’s arms…It happened at this time Ottaviano de Medici, who to all appearances had got the government of everything in his own hands, favoured the old Master of the Mint against the Dukes will. This man was called Bastiano Cennini, an artist of the antiquated school, and of little skill in his craft. Ottaviano mixed his stupid dies with mine in the coinage of crown-pieces. I complained of this to the Duke, who, when he saw how the matter stood, took it very ill, and said to me: Go, tell this to Ottaviano de Medici, and show him how it is. I lost no time; and when I had pointed out the injury that had been done to my fine coins, he answered, like the donkey that he was: We choose to have it so. I replied that it ought not to be so, and that I did not choose to have it so. He said: And if the Duke likes to have it so? I answered: It would not suit me, for the thing is neither just nor reasonable. He told me to take myself off, and that I should have no swallow it in this way, even if I burst. Then I returned to the Duke, and related the whole unpleasant conversation between Ottaviano de Medici and me, entreating his Excellency not to allow the fine coins which I had made for him to be spoiled, and begging for permission to leave Florence. He replied: Ottaviano is too presuming: you shall have what you want; for this is an injury offered to myself. Testone of Alessandro de Medici I said that this was an unranked list, but I can't imagine ever wanting a coin more than the Testone of Alessandro, so here it is, undoubtedly my No. 1 coin of the year! Mezzo Giulio of Alessandro de Medici Doppio Carlino of Clement VII This was the coin that started it all! Scudo d'oro of Paul III Other Renaissance Coins: Pattern Testone of Giovanni Bentivoglio with dies by Francesco Francia Testone of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, with dies attributed Caradosso Struck Paduan by Giovanni Cavino, imitating a sestertius of Tiberius
Oh my goodness! Impressive coins, @ycon! The Bentivoglio’s pattern testone is really amazing, and remember a lot the venetian osella type, specially due the Latin word “munus “, that means gift. Very congrats!
Beautiful coins! What else would be expected of Cellini? Alessandro seems to show the features of an Antonine like Lucius Verus.
ycon, Congrats on acquiring a fine group of coins from the iconic Renaissance artist Benvenuto Cellini, along with the other fine Renaissance coins. It should be no surprise that the man who created the famous Gold Salt Cellar for Francis I, 1540 - 1543, pictured below, also designed coins & medals. Cellini was certainly an enigma, even confessing to 3 murders in his autobiography!
Catching up on my year-end retrospectives; this one certainly deserves a bump!! Just phenomenal. I'm still flabbergasted by the Alessandro testone and the struck Cavino.
