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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;EWC3, post: 3111645, member: 93416&quot;]I never studied Venician coins closely - and am curious about the move towards high weight in this silver piece.&nbsp; Here is a rough background story line taken from memory of the general picture I have.&nbsp; Am open to correction and seeking extension of the suggestions.</p><p><br /></p><p>Back around 1200 the traditional penny at Venice and elsewhere in continental Europe was being heavily debased.&nbsp; The English penny sterling was still firm.&nbsp; The Venice matapan seems to have been fixed against the sterling penny at exactly 3/2 (c. 1.46g x 3/2 = c. 2.19g).</p><p><br /></p><p>However, seigniorage at Venice was way lower than London - really only covering brockage at about 2% - so Venice began to suck silver to its mint, and thus get partial control of Europe&#039;s money supply.&nbsp; Another change of gear happened around 1280, when the even higher denomination gold ducat appeared.</p><p><br /></p><p>The next bit is controversial - but it seems that Venice and others started to suck the silver right out of Europe, using it for international payments, and sucking in gold.&nbsp; This led to a lack of silver that spread all over Europe.&nbsp; Coin use itself started to decline for the ordinary guy, who in many instances would be pushed towards credit arrangements often with only occasional settlement in gold coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>Seems to me this push was tied up with Europe becoming a pretty horrible place to be from the late 14th century onwards.&nbsp; The draining of silver reached a sticking point around 1450 - when just about all the mints in continental Europe closed for several years.</p><p><br /></p><p>Somehow this seemed to press the restart button for the whole economy - oddly driven by the appearance very big silver coins - the Thalers.&nbsp; If I have it right - these were really silver-worth-gold pieces - an attempt to dignify silver again as a coining metal.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have no idea what exactly was going on in Venice in the very late 15th century when Pellinore&#039;s coin was issued - but it is way heavier than the old matapan - almost 3x its weight - so it looks as if it might fit into this general story(?)</p><p><br /></p><p>On Europe becoming a horrible place - I found that well known account &quot;A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century&quot; by Barbara Tuchman very informative - although she does not get into the coinage/economics side of things.</p><p><br /></p><p>From a personal and British perspective - this rolling out of horrible events reached its high point at Towton in 1461.&nbsp; And these heavy silver coins seem to me to mark a crucial revision of all that had gone before.</p><p><br /></p><p>All that is a particular strand of thought pulled out of 20th century scholarship, and I am curious, amongst other things, to get 21st century reactions....</p><p><br /></p><p>Rob[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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