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1/2 Ducato
| Issuer | Kingdom of Naples |
|---|---|
| Year | 1554-1556 |
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| Currency | Piastra (1266-1812) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | The reverse displays the large, elaborately quartered royal arms of Philip II, surmounted by an imperial crown and flanked by ornate Renaissance cartouche scrollwork. The shield incorporates the quartered coats of arms of Castile, León, Aragon, Naples, and other Habsburgs territories, rendered in fine detail despite the hammered technique. The field is largely occupied by the shield, leaving narrow margins for the surrounding inscription. The circular Latin legend, divided by the design elements, reads POSVIMVS DEVM ADIVTOREM NOSTRUM, a devotional motto meaning 'We have placed God as our helper,' taken from Psalm 88. The design is enclosed within a beaded inner border consistent with the obverse. |
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| Additional information |
Philip II inherited Naples from his father Charles V in 1554, and this half ducato belongs to the earliest phase of his Neapolitan coinage — struck before he had consolidated the visual grammar of his sprawling inheritance across Spain, the Low Countries, and Italy. Naples at this moment was financially exhausted from decades of Habsburg military campaigning in the peninsula, with the mint operating under pressure to produce heavy silver for troop payments rather than prestige issues.
MIR 159 is scarce in any grade. The three-year window closes with Philip's monetary reorganization of 1556.