The Carretto family consolidated control over the Piedmont-Ligurian borderlands through a combination of imperial favor and strategic marriage, receiving recognition as marquises from the Holy Roman Emperor in the twelfth century. Their coinage, struck under that imperial authority, reflects the fractured monetary landscape of northern Italian marquisates where dozens of local lords exercised minting rights simultaneously — some legitimately, some not.
The billon grosso of this type is documented in MIR as extraordinarily rare, with only one or two specimens traced in major collections.
The Carretto family consolidated control over the Piedmont-Ligurian borderlands through a combination of imperial favor and strategic marriage, receiving recognition as marquises from the Holy Roman Emperor in the twelfth century. Their coinage, struck under that imperial authority, reflects the fractured monetary landscape of northern Italian marquisates where dozens of local lords exercised minting rights simultaneously — some legitimately, some not.
The billon grosso of this type is documented in MIR as extraordinarily rare, with only one or two specimens traced in major collections.