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| Name: |
Venice - Italy, Doge Giovanni Dandolo (1280-1289 A.D.), AR grosso matapan (20 mm, 2.15 gr.) Christ Enthroned aVF/VF |
| Description: |
Venice - Italy, Doge Giovanni Dandolo (1280-1289 A.D.), AR grosso matapan (20 mm, 2.15
gr.) Christ Enthroned aVF/VF
Obv: IO DANDVL SM VENETI DVX, Doge (governor) stands
facing receiving banner from patron saint St. Mark; the word DVX is to the immediate
right of doge 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. Anulet by
right foot. Toned!
From an old collection assembled in Vienna in 20s!!!
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 doges 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.
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$ 85.00 (2007-04-24) |
| Original page: |
http://www.vcoins.com/ancient/ane/store/
viewItem.asp?idProduct=409
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