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| Name: |
Venice - Italy, Doge Ranier Zeno (1253-1268 A.D.), AR grosso matapan (20 mm, 2.14 g) Christ Enthroned Good VF+ Near EF Attractive Toning |
| Description: |
Venice - Italy, Doge Ranier Zeno (1253-1268 A.D.), AR grosso matapan (20 mm, 2.14 g)
Christ Enthroned Good VF+ Near EF Attractive Toning
Obv: RA CENO SM VENETI DVX, Doge
(duke) stands facing receiving banner from patron saint St. Mark; the word DVX is to the
immediate right of Zeno and it is going down vertically along with the banner.Rev: facing
figure of Nimbate Jesus Christ Pantocrator, enthroned, IC XC field to the left and right.
Control mark - Wedge above right foot.
Detailed description obverse/reverse:
Obverse:
The bare-headed ruler with a beard and moustache is dressed in a robe decorated with
precious gems or pearls in two vertical rows, holding in his left hand a scroll (akakia)
and with his right hand he receives a banner from St. Mark. The saint with beard and
moustache and a granulated nimbus encircling his head, dressed in usual sticharia and a
short mantle, holds in his left hand on his chest the Gospels decorated with five gems,
and with his right hand extends a royal standard - banner.
Reverse: Christ with a
granulated nimbus encircling his head in the usual robe (hiton) and mantle (himation) is
seated on a throne with a high back support. With both hands he holds on his left knee the
Gospels ornamented with five precious stones. Initials IC-XC at the height of his
head.
More information about this type of coins:
The central design on this coin's
obverse features the facing figure of Christ Pantocrator (Christ enthroned as ruler of
all), a motif copied from Byzantine coinage and maintained to this day in Russian Orthodox
art. Christ's hair is long with a center parting. He has a beard and a mustache and is
enthroned on a broad, square-backed, upholstered seat which has a frame embellished with
patterns of pellets. He wears a tunic (simple slip-on garment belted at the waist) and
himation (rectangular cloth draped over the left shoulder and about the body) and has a
voided cross nimbus (outlined cross within a halo) behind his head. His right hand rests
in the fold of his vestment, and his left hand supports a book of the gospel (the
ornamented reliquary cover of which has a pattern of five pellets). His right leg is
inclined to the left and his feet are bare. He is flanked by the legend IC -- XC (Greek
abbreviation for Jesus Christ). In all of these details, this coin copies Byzantine gold
histamenons minted in Constantinople two centuries previously.
On the reverse is the
doge (duke in English, dux in Latin) stands facing with Saint Mark, the patron of Venice.
They grasp a pole between them, at the top of which flies a banner displaying a cross.
Both have beards and mustaches. The locks of Zeno's shoulder-length hair cover his ears.
He wears a loros (a richly ornamented robe) and holds an akakia (a short cylinder with
jeweled ends and containing dust, first carried by Byzantine rulers in public processions
and intended to remind the ruler that even he was mortal). Pellets on Saint Mark's right
breast form a cross, and he is holding a book of the gospel. A halo frames his head, and
his hair is cropped above his ears and shaved on top of his head in a monk's tonsure. The
legend reads, RA(nieri) . CENO . S(an) . M(arco) . VENETI. To the immediate right of Zeno
is his title, DVX (doge).
NUMISMATIC NOTES: Introduced around 1202 (to fund preparations
for the grand and infamous Fourth Crusade that eventually sacked Constantinople) by the
mighty doge Enrico Dandolo and backed by the Republic's thriving economic power, this type
of coin remained for well over a century the DOLLAR of Southeastern European economy.
Although almost all of its design elements are of Byzantine origin - including the iconic
image of a facing enthroned Christ with the Greek inscription "IC XC" (for Jesus
Christ) on its reverse - their particular combination in this silver coin of stable and
strictly controlled weight and purity lasted for over 150 years (with variations in doge
only) and became associated strictly with Venice. As such, through imitations and
forgeries, it influenced many Eastern Mediterranean coinages, including the first
systematic series of Serbian medieval coins. |
| Price: |
US$ 105.00 (2007-04-24) |
| Original page: |
http://www.vcoins.com/ancient/ane/store/
viewItem.asp?idProduct=181
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