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1 Zecchino - Gian Giacomo Medici
| Issuer | Marquisate of Musso (Italian States) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1528-1530 |
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| Reference(s) | MIR LOM#786, CNI IV#2 |
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| Reverse description | A male figure, nude or semi-nude, reclines in the foreground before a small vessel or galley, which bears a flag or pennant on its mast. The scene is rendered in a simple, somewhat naive hammered style and likely alludes to Gian Giacomo Medici's role as a condottiere and lord controlling Lake Como's waterways. The composition is contained within a plain circular border with no additional legend. |
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| Mint | Musso, Italy (1528-1530) |
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| Additional information |
Gian Giacomo de' Medici — known as "il Medeghino" — was a Milanese adventurer who seized the castle of Musso on Lake Como in 1523 and held it as a personal fiefdom for nearly a decade, extorting tolls from merchant traffic and conducting what amounted to licensed piracy on the lake. His right to strike coinage was never formally granted by any emperor or sovereign; he simply did it. The Marquisate of Musso was less a state than a strongman's territorial bluff, and the coins it produced reflect that — minted in small quantities over a compressed window before Francesco II Sforza and the Spanish forced his surrender in 1531.