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1 Piastra - Cosimo II
| Issuer | Tuscany, Grand Duchy of |
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| Year | 1610 |
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| Shape | Round |
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| Obverse description | Armored bust of Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, facing right, wearing an elaborately engraved suit of armor with a ruff collar, the hair rendered in tight curls in the late Renaissance fashion. The portrait is finely executed in high relief, characteristic of the craftsmanship of engraver Gasparo Mola. The surrounding legend reads COSMVS II MAGN DVX ETRVR IIII with the date 1610 and the engraver's initials GASPAM positioned in the lower field. The coin is struck within a beaded border. |
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Cosimo II acceded to the Medici throne in 1609 at eighteen, and this early piastra was struck within his first full year of rule. His reign proved brief — he died of tuberculosis in 1621 aged thirty — but his court was notable for the patronage extended to Galileo Galilei, whom Cosimo appointed as chief mathematician and philosopher to the Grand Duchy that same year of 1610. The Florence mint had refined the large silver piastra format across two generations of Medici rule by this point, and the dies for this issue reflect that accumulated technical confidence.