Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1/2 Groschen - Pius V Charles of Bourbon Legate
| Issuer | Comtat Venaissin |
|---|---|
| Year | 1566-1572 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1/2 Groschen (1⁄40) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Pope Pius V depicted seated facing on his papal throne in full pontifical vestments, holding a tall processional cross that bisects the surrounding legend. The figure is rendered in the crude, angular style characteristic of hammered billon issues of the period. The papal legend is divided by the cross staff and runs around the coin's periphery in Latin capital letters. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | PIVS. PP. - QVINTVS:. (Translation: Pius V great pontiff.) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Comtat Venaissin was a papal enclave within Provence — never French sovereign territory — and its coinage reflected that anomaly directly. During the legation of Charles of Bourbon, the enclave operated under a dual authority that placed a cardinal-legate in administrative control while Pius V held ultimate suzerainty from Rome. The arrangement was constitutionally peculiar enough that the mint at Avignon struck issues acknowledging both figures simultaneously, which explains the paired attribution this type carries.
Pius V's pontificate ran from 1566 to 1572 — the same window as this issue — ending with his death, not a political rupture.