Genovino Type 3

The genovino was among the earliest gold coins struck in medieval Western Europe, launched by Genoa in 1252 — the same year Florence introduced the florin. The Type 3 issue reflects Genoa's sustained commercial dominance across the eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea trade networks during the early fourteenth century, when Genoese merchant colonies at Caffa, Pera, and Chios depended on a stable, high-purity gold currency accepted without question by Byzantine and Mongol trading partners alike.

At .999 fineness, the genovino's purity was essentially unimpeachable — a deliberate policy that distinguished it from competitors and held through successive die types without debasement.