Catalog
Tari - Juan de Homedes
| Issuer | Order of Malta (Knights Hospitaller) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1539 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered |
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| Obverse description | Quartered shield bearing the arms of Grand Master Juan de Homedes impaled with the arms of the Order of St. John (the white eight-pointed cross on black field), the escutcheon divided by a bold cross forming four quarters. The shield is set within a beaded border, with the circular legend distributed around the periphery of the coin. The die-work is characteristic of early sixteenth-century Maltese hammered coinage, with an irregular flan and slightly uneven strike. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A nimbate Paschal Lamb (Agnus Dei) advancing to the left, head turned back to the right, bearing a banner or standard over its shoulder. A star appears in the left field before the lamb. The composition is rendered in a simple but devotional medieval style, consistent with Hospitaller iconographic tradition. The reverse legend encircles the central device within a beaded border, with the date 1539 incorporated into the legend. |
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| Additional information |
Juan de Homedes, a Spanish knight from Aragon, became Grand Master in 1536 following the Order's humiliating expulsion from Rhodes in 1522 and their eventual settlement on Malta under Charles V. His tenure was marked by chronic financial strain and the need to maintain fortifications against Ottoman pressure — the same pressure that would culminate in the Great Siege of 1565, two decades after his death. Coinage under Homedes served practical military administration more than ceremonial function.
The tari denomination traces to earlier Sicilian and southern Italian monetary tradition absorbed by the Order. Restelli 34 is among the more straightforwardly documented issues of his reign.