The piombi of Luni occupy an awkward category — neither coin nor seal in the conventional sense, these lead-alloy pieces functioned as ecclesiastical authentication tokens during a period when the Lombard advance had fractured administrative continuity across northwestern Italy. The Bishopric of Luni, perched on the Ligurian coast, retained enough institutional authority in the late 7th and early 8th centuries to issue such objects, even as the city itself was entering the long decline that would eventually see it abandoned entirely in favor of Sarzana.
The billon composition here is atypical for the piombo class, which more commonly runs to near-pure lead.
The piombi of Luni occupy an awkward category — neither coin nor seal in the conventional sense, these lead-alloy pieces functioned as ecclesiastical authentication tokens during a period when the Lombard advance had fractured administrative continuity across northwestern Italy. The Bishopric of Luni, perched on the Ligurian coast, retained enough institutional authority in the late 7th and early 8th centuries to issue such objects, even as the city itself was entering the long decline that would eventually see it abandoned entirely in favor of Sarzana.
The billon composition here is atypical for the piombo class, which more commonly runs to near-pure lead.