Sale: CNG 61, Lot: 2501. Estimate $150.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 25 September 2002.  Sold For $90. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ITALY, Venice. Alvise Mocenigo II? 1700-1709. AR Pattern 4 Zecchini? (2.21 gm). Doge kneeling before St. Mark / Christ in glory. Papadopoli -; Scarfea -; KM -. Fine, porous and heavily clipped. Apparently unpublished. ($150)

This piece, if issued at Venice, would be an off-metal strike of a 4 Zecchini. Although classified as a pattern, such a piece would be more of a trial strike or an oddity. Another possibility is that at one point the specimen was gilt, thus a counterfeit of the gold issue. The slightly crude appearance raises the question of imitation, but only single ducats are known in the Indian and Levantine imitative series. This coin circulated and was ill-treated as an ordinary issue, as the wear and clipping attest.