Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Louis XII - Duché de Milan - Gro royal de six sous
| Issuer | Milan, Duchy of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1500-1512 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 6 Soldi (1/20) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Saint Ambrose is depicted seated facing front in a formal hieratic pose, dressed in episcopal vestments, holding a whip in one hand and a crosier in the other, emblematic of his authority as patron and protector of Milan. The figure of the saint interrupts the circumferential legend both at the top and at the bottom of the coin, integrating the design with the inscription in a characteristic late medieval hammered style. The Latin legend proclaims Louis XII's title as Duke of Milan. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Louis XII inherited his claim to Milan through his grandmother Valentina Visconti, and pressed it militarily in 1499 when French forces took the city from Ludovico Sforza. This coin was struck during the French occupation of the duchy — a period bookended by Sforza's brief recapture in 1500 and the eventual loss of Milan to the Swiss and Habsburgs in 1512. The gros royal of six sous represents the French crown's deliberate imposition of its own monetary system onto Milanese infrastructure, using existing ducal mint facilities.
The twelve-year window for this type is almost certainly not uniform in output — production almost certainly dropped sharply during the Sforza interlude of 1500.