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1 Ducat - Alexander VI Giovanni Borgia Legate
| Issuer | Bologna (Papal States) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1492-1503 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Within a quadrilobe border, the papal coat-of-arms of Alexander VI is prominently displayed, surmounted by the crossed keys of St. Peter and the papal tiara. The armorial device features the Borgia family bearings. The circular legend reads ALEXANDER PP VI, identifying the issuing pope. The overall composition is characteristic of late 15th-century Italian hammered gold coinage, with the heraldic elements rendered in a bold, high-relief style typical of the Bologna mint. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | ٠ALEXANDER٠PP٠VI٠ (Translation: Alexander 6th Pope) |
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| Additional information |
Alexander VI appointed his son Cesare Borgia as papal legate to Bologna, and the city's mint operated under that fraught political arrangement throughout the pontificate. The Borgia papacy's grip on the Papal States was enforced partly through Bologna's strategic position along the Via Emilia, making its coinage a direct instrument of Borgia territorial consolidation in northern Italy.
The .999 fineness is notable — Bolognese ducats of this period were held to a particularly strict gold standard to maintain credibility in the northern Italian trade networks where Venetian and Florentine coin dominated.