Huszár 547, Pohl 89-2, Unger 432e, Réthy II 89A

Louis I (Lajos I, in Hun.) (1342-1382). AR denar, 14 mm.

Obv: + MOnETA LODOVICI, Saracen head left.

Rev: + REGIS hVnGARIE, Patriarchal cross with random pellets, crown–crown (privy mark) in fields beneath the cross-arms.

The type was struck 1373-1382 (per Huszár, Pohl & Unger, although Huszár later wrote that the Saracen-head coinage incepted in 1372). This privy mark was struck at Buda (now Budapest) by an unidentified moneyer (per Pohl).

Huszár/Pohl rarity rating 3.

The Saracen's head is a pun on the surname of Jacobus Saracenus (Szerechen, in Hun.) and his brother, Johannes, courtiers of Italian descent who were ennobled by Louis. The image of a Saracen's head appeared on their coat of arms. Jacobus became the kammergraf at the Pécs mint in 1352, and the Comes Camerarum Regalium in 1369. He died in the early 1370s, at which time Johannes succeeded him as kammergraf.