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Écu Pistolet 16 Rays
| Issuer | City of Geneva |
|---|---|
| Year | 1562-1570 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 3.310 g |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Radiant sun composed of sixteen alternating straight and undulating rays emanating from a central circle, within which the Christogram IHS appears. The motif references the Calvinist motto of Geneva and its Reformed theological identity. The Latin legend POST TENEBRAS LVX ('After darkness, light') is distributed around the periphery, with the alpha and omega symbols flanking the sacred monogram, affirming the Reformed faith of the issuing city. |
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| Reverse lettering | POST : TENEBRAS : LVX : P : Ω IHS ⁕ |
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| Additional information |
Geneva struck this issue during one of the most politically charged decades in its history — the city was navigating its independence from Savoyard pressure while simultaneously serving as the nerve center of Calvinist Reformation spreading across Europe. The right to mint gold coinage was itself an assertion of sovereign municipal authority, one Geneva exercised with deliberate consistency through the 1560s.
The 16-ray sun variant distinguishes it from related emissions; HMZ cataloguing separates these by ray count, a detail that collapses under casual inspection but matters considerably to type completeness.