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Crazia - Cosimo de' Medici
| Issuer | Zecca di Siena |
|---|---|
| Year | 1557-1569 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 17.5 mm |
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| Obverse description | Crowned Medici coat of arms occupying the central field, displaying the characteristic roundels (palle) arranged in the traditional Medici pattern surmounted by a ducal crown. The shield is rendered in a bold, somewhat crude hammered style typical of small Italian Renaissance coinage. A circular Latin legend surrounds the central device reading COS MED FL ET SENAR DVX II, identifying Cosimo I de' Medici as Duke of Florence and Siena. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | COS MED FL ET SENAR DVX II |
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| Additional information |
Siena surrendered to Florentine-Imperial forces in 1555 after a brutal siege, and within two years Cosimo de' Medici had reorganized the city's mint to produce coinage under his authority — the crazia being among the first small silver denominations struck in this new political reality. The Sienese mint had a complicated recent past: it had continued striking in the name of the short-lived Republic of Siena even as the siege tightened, making any subsequent Medicean issue a deliberate statement of administrative absorption rather than mere currency production.
The twelve-year span of this type reflects the gradual institutional consolidation that followed, not a single minting decision.