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Grosso - Nicholas Guarco

Issuer Republic of Genoa
Year 1378-1383
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Orientation Coin alignment ↑↓
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Reverse description Central design presents a cross pattée set within a multilobed (polylobe) frame, each internal point decorated with a leaf motif, mirroring the composition of the obverse. The entire polylobe is surrounded by a reeded border. The surrounding uncial Latin legend invokes the name of Conrad, King of the Romans, whose titular authority was traditionally cited on Genoese coinage; the legend terminates with the initial letter of the responsible mint official.
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Reverse lettering ✠ ✿ CONRADVS ✿ REX ✿ O ✿
(Translation: Conrad King)
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Additional information

Nicholas Guarco served as Doge of Genoa from 1378 to 1383, a period bracketed by the War of Chioggia — the final, exhausting conflict between Genoa and Venice that ultimately broke Genoese naval supremacy in the Adriatic. The republic's finances were under severe strain, with the Casa di San Giorgio absorbing much of the state's debt obligations throughout this decade.

MEC XII#293 places this type firmly within the Genoese grosso tradition that had circulated across Mediterranean trade routes since the thirteenth century, though by Guarco's tenure the denomination was losing ground to the larger silver coinages of competing Italian states.

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