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'Light' Testone - Francis III
| Issuer | Mantua, Duchy of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1540-1550 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | Saint Michael the Archangel depicted in full figure, walking to the left, gently leading the young Tobias by the hand in a scene drawn from the Book of Tobit. Tobias trails a large fish on a cord behind him, referencing the biblical narrative. Both figures are rendered in a late-medieval or early Renaissance engraving style typical of Northern Italian hammered coinage of the mid-sixteenth century. A circular Latin devotional legend surrounds the scene, punctuated by pellet or star stops. |
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| Additional information |
The "light" designation distinguishes this testone from the heavier standard issues, reflecting a deliberate reduction in silver content that Francis III's regency government adopted during a period of fiscal strain in the 1540s. Mantua was managing the financial pressures of maintaining imperial favor under Charles V while funding the Gonzaga court's considerable expenses. The duchy routinely struck multiple weight standards of the same denomination simultaneously, creating legitimate confusion in circulation that local merchants navigated through weighing rather than face-value acceptance.
MIR 492 is among the scarcer Mantuan testone varieties from this decade, partly because Francis III died in 1550 at just seventeen.