Sale: CNG 72, Lot: 2375. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 June 2006.  Sold For $3750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ITALY, Papal States. Leo X. 1513-1521. AR Giulio. Façade of St. Peter’s Basilica; in exergue, lion crouching left / Leo, in papal regalia, kneeling right, presenting model of St. Peter’s Basilica to St. Peter seated slightly right, holding keys and Gospels; Medici coat-of-arms surmounted by cardinal’s hat in exergue. Muntoni III 13; Berman 643. EF, beautifully toned. Very rare in this condition and of great historical importance.

Leo X was the son of Lorenzo de Medici, “il Magnifico,” who succeeded the warrior-pope Julius II. A serious patron of the arts, like his father, and intimate friends with many of the titans of the Italian High Renaissance, he oversaw the completion of many of the artistic projects begun by his predecessor. Among these was the new St. Peter’s Basilica. Designed by the great architect Donato Bramante and begun in 1506 to replace the earlier dilapidated Constantinian version, its construction encompassed the better part of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries to complete. To provide much-needed funds for the basilica’s construction, Leo in 1517 offered indulgences, papal rescripts which, when purchased, allowed partial absolution for the recipient. It was the aggressive marketing and perceived “selling” of these indulgences by the Dominican friar Johann Tzetzel in his native Germany, which in part, precipitated the actions of Martin Luther and sparked the Protestant Reformation.