Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;jgenn, post: 26146274, member: 78525&quot;]I&#039;ve posted lots of pillar dollars in various places on this site so here&#039;s something different but related:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1669453[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>1684 ducato of the Kingdom of Naples (and Sicily).&nbsp; The obverse shows the bust of Charles II, ruler of the Spanish Empire which, at this time, included the Southern portion of Italy and the island of Sicily.&nbsp; The reverse has the legend VNVS NON SVFFICIT (one is not enough) which was previously seen on medals and printed works of art as VNVS NON SVFFICIT ORBIS (one world is not enough), and depicts a pillar surmounted by a crown and two hemispheres of the globe.&nbsp; The initials on the reverse are for the mint official Andrea Giovane and assayer F. Antonio Ariani. On the obverse, the initials under the bust are for the engraver Giovanni Montemein.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Earlier depictions of the two globes theme are not as geographically representative of the New and Old Worlds as we see on this coin.&nbsp; <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1865-0720-5" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1865-0720-5" rel="nofollow">The earliest example</a> that I have found is from a medal commemorating the union of the French King Francis II and Mary, Queen of the Scots from no earlier than 1558.&nbsp; <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_M-2167" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_M-2167" rel="nofollow">Another example</a> is a medal of Francis I, with a date of 1515 but likely produced in the 17th Century, showing one earthly globe juxtaposed with a celestial globe. It seems unlikely that Francisco Hernández Escudero was unaware of these precedents when he designed the iconic pillar dollar in 1729, a coin that would become so successful as a trade dollar across the globe.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in