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1 Zecchino - Pasquale Cicogna
| Issuer | Republic of Venice |
|---|---|
| Year | 1585-1595 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Zecchino |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The obverse depicts Saint Mark standing on the left, nimbed and robed, presenting a vexillum (standard) to the kneeling Doge Pasquale Cicogna on the right, who is shown in ducal robes with hands raised in a gesture of reception. The two figures face each other in the traditional Venetian zecchino composition, with the staff of the standard dividing the field vertically. The peripheral legend reads PASC·CICON S·M·VENET·, identifying the Doge and the patron saint of Venice. The style is characteristic of late 16th-century Venetian hammered gold coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Pasquale Cicogna served as Doge from 1585 to 1595, a decade during which Venice was managing the long financial and military hangover of Lepanto while simultaneously negotiating the delicate commercial truce with the Ottoman Empire that kept Levantine trade routes viable. The Zecchino — the word "sequin" derives directly from it — had maintained its gold fineness with near-fanatical consistency since the 13th century, a monetary discipline that made it the preferred settlement currency across the eastern Mediterranean and as far east as India.
That extraordinary purity standard, essentially unchanged across nearly three centuries of continuous production, is why individual dogate attributions matter: dies were re-engraved with each new doge, making Cicogna's tenure one of the shorter and therefore scarcer production windows in the series.