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4 Tari - Juan de Homedes
| Issuer | Order of St. John of Jerusalem |
|---|---|
| Year | 1553 |
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| Orientation | Coin alignment ↑↓ |
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| Obverse description | Central field dominated by a large quartered cross of the Order of St. John, the arms of which divide the field into four quarters, each bearing heraldic devices including keys and towers derived from the arms of Grand Master Juan de Homedes. The cross is rendered in high relief with fine detail characteristic of hammered coinage. A circular Latin legend surrounds the central device, reading continuously around the beaded border. The overall composition is bold and heraldic, consistent with the iconographic conventions of the Knights Hospitaller coinage of the mid-sixteenth century. |
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Juan de Homedes, a Spanish knight who served as Grand Master from 1536 until his death in 1553, presided over the Order during one of its most precarious decades — the aftermath of the 1522 loss of Rhodes and the ongoing Ottoman pressure on Malta, culminating in the failed siege of Tripoli in 1551, which the Order surrendered without serious resistance. This coinage was struck in the final year of his tenure, possibly the last issues authorized under his authority before his death in September of that year.
The 4 Tari denomination was the workhorse silver unit of Hospitaller Malta, struck to a Sicilian monetary standard inherited from the island's Norman-Aragonese past.