Coin Weight for Hungarian Ducat (=aranyforint = gulden)

AE 13 mm x 14 mm x 1.5 mm; original weight 3.5 gr.

Withers, P. and B.R., "Lions, Ships & Angels: The Galata Guide to Identifying Coin-Weights Found in Britain" (1995 & 2nd ed. revised 2011), p. 29 (per the dealer's flip).

Obv: Crowned St. Lászlo (= Ladislaus) standing facing, holding long cross in right hand and globus cruciger in left, flanked by H-D (= Hungaricus Ducatus), all in a beaded circle.

Rev: Blank.

The Hungarian aranyforint was struck in great quantities and circulated widely throughout Europe, so that they are found as far afield as England and Scotland. As many currencies circulated throughout Europe, coin weights were sold in boxed sets containing weights for a wide variety of coins that a merchant may encounter, together with a scale.

The obverse devise on this weight is similar to the medieval depiction of St. Lászlo which continuously appeared on the aranyforint from the reign of Lajos I (1342-1382) through the reign of Lajos II (1516-1526), and after the defeat of Hungary by the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Mohács, on the ayanyforints of János Szapolyai (1526-1540), but not on those of his Habsburg rival, Ferdinand I (1526-1564), or on those of the subsequent Habsburg kings of Hungary (the depiction of St. Lászlo on the Habsburg coins, and even on some of the later Jagiellon issues, was in a Renaissance style). The devise on the weight differs from that on the aranyforint primarily in that (a) St. Lászlo is holding a long cross rather than a halberd; and (b) St. Lászlo is not nimbate (although he is not consistently nimbate on the later Jagiellon issues and is not nimbate on the issues of János Szapolyai). The style of this weight suggests that it was manufactured pre- Mohács, and according to Withers, it was made in Germany during the 1400’s to 1500’s (Note: I am reliant upon the dealer’s flip for this information, as I have not been able to obtain Withers). However, a number of similarly styled coin weights issued by Antwerp masters who were active in the mid to late 1500’s (i.e., Bernaert Foncq (active 1550-1578), his son, Hans Foncq (active 1577-1603) and Rogier Verpoorten (active ca. 1580 and later)) indicates that the medieval St. Lászlo continued to appear on coin weights even after that style had become obsolete on the actual coins. presenting the possibility that this weight may have been manufactured post-Mohács.