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Armellino - Guidobaldo II della Rovere
| Issuer | Duchy of Urbino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1538-1574 |
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| Reference(s) | Cavicchi#123 |
| Obverse description | An ermine passant to the right in a hunting posture is depicted in the central field, standing upon a horizontal ground line. The letter E appears in the exergue below the ground line, serving as a mint or privy mark. The surrounding legend, separated by pellets, reads GVI·VBALDVS·VRB·DVX·IIII, identifying Guidobaldo II as the fourth Duke of Urbino. The design is executed in the characteristic crude relief of mid-sixteenth-century hammered Italian coinage, with an irregular flan typical of the period. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Guidobaldo II ruled Urbino under the long shadow of his father Francesco Maria I, who had clawed the duchy back from papal confiscation through sheer military persistence. The armellino — named for the ermine pelt, symbol of noble purity — was a small silver denomination issued by several Italian signorie during the sixteenth century, its value and exact equivalent varying by jurisdiction and period.
Cavicchi remains the specialist reference for Urbino coinage of this period, documenting a series struck across a 36-year reign during which Guidobaldo cultivated Titian and maintained close, if uneasy, ties to both Rome and Spain.