Catalog
2 Tari - Claude de la Sengle
| Issuer | Order of Malta (Knights Hospitaller) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1553-1557 |
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| Currency | Scudo (1530-1825) |
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| Reverse description | Full-length figure of St. John the Baptist standing in three-quarter profile to the right, head turned to the left, rendered in a hieratic, slightly stylized manner typical of Hospitaller coinage of the mid-sixteenth century. He holds a long processional cross in his left hand, its shaft extending to the ground, while his right hand is raised in a gesture of blessing or proclamation. The figure is set within a plain field, enclosed by a beaded inner border. The circular Latin legend, a quotation from the Gospel of Mark, is inscribed around the periphery. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Claude de la Sengle served as Grand Master for only four years before dying in office in 1557, making his coinage among the shorter-reigned issues in the Hospitaller series. The Order was still reeling from the 1522 loss of Rhodes and operating from Malta under an arrangement with Charles V that required annual payment of a single falcon to the Viceroy of Sicily — hardly the position of strength the Knights had once enjoyed.
The 2 Tari denomination occupied a workhorse role in Maltese commerce during this period, circulating alongside Spanish reales that dominated Mediterranean trade. Schembri's cataloguing of this type as #2 suggests it was among the earlier die sequences of the reign.