Ferdinand I of Naples

[manpace]

This battered sliver of bronze just came in the mail.  I found it listed in an online auction, as an unattributed Roman coin.

It does have a Roman look, but as far as I can tell it is a coin of Ferdinand I of Naples, or Ferdinand of Aragon King of Naples or some such, and is from the Fifteenth Century.

Inscription
Obv: FERRANDVS REX
Rev: EQVITAS REGNI

I looked for examples with this inscription and only found a few, which is odd because Ferdinand reigned for like 35 years.  Does anyone know the story behind this coin?

[Pekka K]

Take a look here:

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/meepzorp/mi_naples_pt03.htm

3rd coin.

Pekka K

[BIRDSOFPREY]

Hi,

Your coin is a Cavallo of Ferdinand I (or Ferrante), King of "Sicily," which was actually the mainland kingdom of Naples.  It appears to be from Ferrante's fourth coinage of 1488-1494.  The eagle below the horse's head shows the mint as L'Aquila.  The "T" in exergue is for the mint master, Giancarlo Tramontano.  The reference for this information is Medieval European Coinage 14, p. 378, Cavalli numbers 1016-1024.  Hope this information helps.

David

[Meepzorp]

Hi,

Your coin is a Cavallo of Ferdinand I (or Ferrante), King of "Sicily," which was actually the mainland kingdom of Naples.  It appears to be from Ferrante's fourth coinage of 1488-1494.  The eagle below the horse's head shows the mint as L'Aquila.  The "T" in exergue is for the mint master, Giancarlo Tramontano.  The reference for this information is Medieval European Coinage 14, p. 378, Cavalli numbers 1016-1024.  Hope this information helps.

David

Hi BOP,

My example also has the eagle at right (below the horse's head). Does that mean that my example is also L'Aquila mint?

Meepzorp

[BIRDSOFPREY]

Hello Meepzorp,

Yes, it does.  In Medieval European Coinage 14, mintmarks for Ferrante's Cavalli are identified as follows:

Naples- No mark, "T" or ligatured "TRA" in exergue
L'Aquila- Heraldic eagle in field, "T" in exergue
Sulmona- Cartouche containing the letters "SMPE" in exergue
Amatrice- City shield in field (or not), "M" between rosettes
Brindisi- Crowned column in field, "T" in exergue

These mint identifiers are all for Ferrante's fourth coinage of 1488-1494. 
From your description, I would say your coin is a L'Aquilian coin from the fourth coinage.  Hope you enjoyed all of this info.

Cheers,
David

[manpace]

Wonderful stuff!  Thanks everyone.

[Pekka K]

Surprisingly I laid my hads on this to-day.

Pekka K

[BIRDSOFPREY]

Hello Pekka K,

Nice coin! From the spelling of the king's name, I would say it is from Ferrante's third coinage of 1472-1488.  I would suppose that it was minted in Naples from lack of an eagle in the reverse field.  According to MEC 14, the "I" in exergue is a mint-master's segno, though the actual mint-master's name is not listed under third coinage.  Under fourth coinage, "I" is identified as Giovanni Carlo Tramontano.  Thanks for sharing your new purchase!

Cheers,
David

[Pekka K]

Very interesting info, thank you,

Pekka K

[Meepzorp]

Hello Meepzorp,

Yes, it does.  In Medieval European Coinage 14, mintmarks for Ferrante's Cavalli are identified as follows:

Naples- No mark, "T" or ligatured "TRA" in exergue
L'Aquila- Heraldic eagle in field, "T" in exergue
Sulmona- Cartouche containing the letters "SMPE" in exergue
Amatrice- City shield in field (or not), "M" between rosettes
Brindisi- Crowned column in field, "T" in exergue

These mint identifiers are all for Ferrante's fourth coinage of 1488-1494. 
From your description, I would say your coin is a L'Aquilian coin from the fourth coinage.  Hope you enjoyed all of this info.

Cheers,
David

Hi BOP,

Thank you for the information. I'll correct the dealer's attribution error soon. I also found a CNI # online.

Meepzorp

[Meepzorp]

Hi folks,

I moved the mis-attributed coin to my L'Aquila website page.

Meepzorp