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!
Quadruple Gold Ecu - Urban VIII Francis Barberini Legate, Cosimo Bardi Vice-Legate
| Issuer | Comtat Venaissin |
|---|---|
| Year | 1629 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Round |
| 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 | Latin |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | FRANCISCVS · CARD · BARBERINVS · LEG · AVEN · (Translation: Francis Barberini, cardinal legate of Avignon.) |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Urban VIII's appointment of his nephew Francesco Barberini as legate to Avignon in 1623 was nakedly nepotistic even by papal standards — Francesco was twenty-six, a cardinal of two years' standing, and would never once reside in the Comtat during his tenure. Cosimo Bardi held the day-to-day authority as vice-legate, which is why both names appear on this issue: one man held the title, the other ran the territory.
The Comtat Venaissin had been a papal enclave within Provençal France since 1274, minting independently of both the French crown and Rome itself. The quadruple écu denomination in .986 fine gold placed this squarely at the luxury end of regional output — not a coin that saw a market stall.