Asper - Hélion de Villeneuve 1st type

Hélion de Villeneuve served as Grand Master for nearly three decades, the longest reign of any Grand Master during the Rhodian period. This coin dates from shortly after the Order consolidated its hold on Rhodes itself — a conquest completed in 1309 after two years of fighting against the island's Genoese and Byzantine defenders. The early aspers of this type were struck as the Order rebuilt its financial infrastructure on the island, transitioning from the itinerant monetary arrangements of the Crusader mainland to something more permanent.

Metcalf's attribution places this among the earliest regularized silver issues of the Rhodian mint.