The Assasination of Allesandro de’ Medici, Duke of Florence
Modeled on Brutus’ Eid Mar Denarius

408, Lot: 446. Estimate $150. Sold for $1600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ITALY, Venezia (Venice). Lorenzino de’ Medici. 1514-1548. Æ Medal (35mm, 23.58 g, 6h). Later cast. By an uncertain artist, but often attributed to Giovanni da Cavino, circa 1537 or shortly after. LAVRENTIVS MEDICES, draped bust of Lorenzino de Medici right / Cap of Liberty between two daggers; VIII • ID • IAN (“the 8th of the Ides of January”) below. Cessi 53; Toderi Vannel Medaglie 743; Attwood 891; Pollard (NGA) 570. VF, brown patina. This medal copies Crawford 508/3.

From the Andrew McCabe Collection, purchased at the York Coin Fair, July 2011.

On 6 January 6 1537, Lorenzino de Medici assassinated his cousin, Duke Alessandro de Medici. He fled first to Turkey, then France, and finally to Venice, where he was murdered by hired assassins of Cosimo I in 1548. The reverse is inspired by the famous denarius of Brutus (Crawford 508/3), and just as with Brutus, the type wishes to sing the praises of a tyrranicide. Of note, also, to the history of numismatics is that the date of this medal goes right back to the founding of modern numismatics. In fact, it predates the finding of the Consular Fasti on the Capitoline Hill in 1545, which sparked the writing of many serious numismatic books such as that by Fulvius Orsini, because the dating of the Republican moneyers could for the first time be assigned with some precision. Thus, the use of the Brutus’ EID MAR, prior to such publications, is quite extraordinary and does show just how famous a coin it has been throughout history. [Andrew McCabe]