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1 Carlino - Jean de Vallette
| Issuer | Order of Malta (Knights of St. John) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1566 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Two clasped hands (a dextrarum iunctio) occupy the central field, symbolizing alliance and fidelity, enclosed within a beaded or lined inner circle. The Grand Master's name and a mark appear above the hands, while the denomination is indicated below. The surrounding legend, separated by mullets or stops, reads NON AES SED FIDES with the date 1566 and the name VALLETE M X, all rendered in a Gothic-influenced Latin script typical of sixteenth-century Hospitaller coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | ☩ NON AES SED FIDES · 1566 · VALLETE M X (Translation: Not money, but trust) |
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| Additional information |
Jean de Vallette was Grand Master when the Ottoman fleet of Suleiman the Magnificent laid siege to Malta in May 1565 — roughly 40,000 troops against a garrison of perhaps 6,000. The Knights held. The following year, flush with prestige and fresh donations from Catholic Europe, de Vallette began construction of the new fortified city that still bears his name and struck new coinage to assert the Order's continued authority over the island.
Restelli 119 is among the copper issues of this immediate post-siege period, produced in the window between the Ottoman withdrawal and de Vallette's death in 1568.