Thaler au lion

The lion thalers struck for Massa-Carrara were produced under Alberico II Cybo-Malaspina, whose tiny north-Tuscan duchy occupied an awkward political position between Genoese commercial interests and Hapsburg imperial authority. The series ran nearly four decades, and die-to-die variation across the run is substantial — MIR#319 is a broad type reference, not a single emission, and collectors should treat individual pieces accordingly.

Massa's thalers circulated well beyond their duchy of origin, absorbed into the dense Mediterranean silver trade where Levantine merchants cared more about fineness than issuer prestige.