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1 Follaro
| Issuer | Svač, City of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1375-1400 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | IOHA - NES - B (Translation: Johannes) |
| Reverse description | Central field features a detailed depiction of a walled city or fortress with multiple towers and battlements, rendered in a frontal elevation view characteristic of medieval civic coinage. The architectural motif symbolizes the city of Svač (Svac/Sovocia) and is executed with notable relief despite the small module of the coin. Below the city gate, arched openings are visible, adding architectural detail. The surrounding Latin legend reads SOVACII - CIVITCAS, identifying this as the coinage of the city of Svač. The reverse flan is irregular and the strike slightly off-center, as is typical of hammered copper follaroes of the late 14th-century Adriatic region. |
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| Additional information |
Svač (Suaci, modern Shas in Albania) was a fortified episcopal city on the Adriatic coast that functioned as a semi-autonomous commune under intermittent Venetian and Serbian influence throughout the fourteenth century. By the 1370s the city was in accelerating decline — repeated Ottoman raids had devastated the surrounding territory, and its population was contracting sharply. That this copper follaro was struck at all during this period suggests the commune maintained enough commercial infrastructure to warrant a local fiduciary coinage, however briefly.
The city was effectively abandoned by the early fifteenth century. This issue likely represents one of the final acts of municipal autonomy before Svač ceased to function as a populated center entirely.