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Teston - Charles V
| Issuer | Free Imperial City of Besançon (French States) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1537-1542 |
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| Composition | Silver |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The ornate shield of the city arms of Besançon, depicting a double-headed imperial eagle surmounted by two classical columns with foliate decoration, is displayed centrally within a beaded inner circle, with the date divided across the field to either side. The heraldic composition is rendered in detailed relief typical of hammered teston coinage. The surrounding legend MONETA CIVITATIS BISVNTINE encircles the design between the beaded border and the inner circle. |
| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Besançon's right to strike coinage rested on a imperial privilege granted by Maximilian I, confirmed and extended under Charles V — whose name these testons carry despite the city's fierce determination to manage its own mint affairs. The city was nominally imperial but functionally autonomous, a status it defended with considerable legal tenacity throughout the sixteenth century.
The teston denomination itself arrived in the Franche-Comté monetary orbit from France and the Italian states, where it had established itself as a prestige silver piece in the late fifteenth century. Besançon's adoption of the form placed it squarely in that tradition while insisting on its own civic identity in the process.