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Grossetto - William I shield
| Issuer | Mantua, Duchy of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1550-1574 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Scudo |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Saint Longinus, nimbate and kneeling in a devotional posture, holding his lance — the instrument of the Passion — while presenting a reliquary (pyx) containing the Precious Blood to Saint Andrew the Apostle. The scene alludes to the celebrated relic of the Sanguis Christi venerated at Mantua, of which Saint Longinus was the traditional bearer. The composition is enclosed within a circular Latin legend and a beaded border, rendered in the characteristic flat, linear style of hammered Renaissance coinage from the Mantuan mint. |
| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
William I (Guglielmo Gonzaga) inherited Mantua in 1550 and spent much of his reign navigating the suffocating influence of Spanish Milan to the west and the Habsburgs above him — a political reality that shaped every aspect of Mantuan fiscal policy. The grossetto denominations of this period were workhorse issues, circulating hard across the Po Valley in small commercial transactions that larger silver never reached.
MIR 518 is among the lighter silver fractions attributed to his coinage, a denomination range where die quality and alloy consistency varied considerably between emission years within the 1550–1574 span.