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 Ducato - Guglielmo VIII Palaeologo
| Issuer | March of Montferrat (Montferrat, Italian States) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1464-1483 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Ducat |
| 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 | Crowned and helmeted coat of arms of the Paleologus Marquises of Montferrat displayed centrally in the field, rendered in the late medieval heraldic style typical of Italian hammered gold coinage. The shield is flanked by the initials G and V, referencing the marquis Guglielmo (Gulielmus). A circular legend in uncial Latin characters runs around the periphery of the flan. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | SANTVS ThEODORVS ThIRO |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Guglielmo VIII ruled Montferrat as a marquis caught between competing Italian powers — the Sforza of Milan, Savoy, and the ambitions of the Gonzaga — navigating those pressures through strategic marriage alliances rather than military force. His gold ducato coinage was struck in close imitation of the Venetian ducat standard, a deliberate economic choice that made Montferrat's currency acceptable in the broader northern Italian trade network without the marquessate having anything like Venice's commercial reach.
CNI II#1 places this as the primary type for his reign. The Palaeologus dynasty had held Montferrat since 1305, a Byzantine imperial lineage stranded in the Piedmontese foothills by geopolitical accident.