The B.R. Bell Collection of Imitative Venetian Ducats
Sale: Triton XII, Lot: 873. Estimate $500.
Closing Date: Monday, 5 January 2009.
Sold For $675. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee. |
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ITALY, Firenze. Repubblica. 1189-1532. AV Fiorino d’oro (3.28 g, 6h). Firenze mint; mm: crossed keys (Gherardo Gentili, mintmaster). Struck circa 1316, 2nd semester. +FLOR ENTIA, ornate lily of Florence / • S • IOHA NNES • B, nimbate St. Giovanni Battista standing facing, wearing cloak, holding cross scepter and raising right hand; crossed keys at end of legend. CNI XII, 110 (segni Tav. II, 47); Bernocchi 1159; Biaggi 787. Near VF, wavy flan.
From the B.R. Bell Collection.
This piece does not appear to be an imitation, and if not an official issue, it is a contemporary counterfeit. Imitations exist with crossed keys, but all have different legends for historical figures such as: Pope Clement VI at Avignon, 1342-1362 (Scarfea 645); Cuno II von Falkenstein, 1362-1388 (Bernocchi 339); and Arnold de Hornes, 1378-1389 (De Mey, Le Moyen Age d’or 1312).
INTRODUCTION TO THE SECTION CNG is pleased to present the B. R. Bell Collection of imitative Venetian ducats, an ongoing study of the numismatic influence of that denomination in Africa, the Middle East, and India. Assembled over a number of years, this collection is the result of Mr. Bell’s deep interest of the numerous permutations of a series that grew out of Venice’s role in the eastern Aegean during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Mr. Bell’s work on this intriguing series adds to the earlier work of both Schlumberger and Ives by demonstrating how broad-ranging and long-lasting the influence of Venice was, even after the city itself ceased to be an international power. His initial numismatic work on this subject was the study of a group of these imitative types, published in Classical Numismatic Review XXVII (Summer 2002). Several of the coins in this collection are from that study.
