I would like to join in with my own new entry:
Innocent XI (1676-89), Testone (reformed) 1689.
Obv. Odescalchi arms
Rev. MELIVS EST DARE QVAM ACCIPERE in cartouche. 9.11 gr. 32.5 mm. 0 h.
Muntoni 116,
Berman 2102.
An interesting coin even if doesn't boast any majestic
portrait or gorgeous
biblical scenes (the complexity of the Odescalchi arms is already pleasing enough for me).
Good condition (much better than in the
Muntoni table
), stated as VF+ but could be even better if some apparent wear is really a somewhat
weak strike, plus a nice
patina. It
comes from an
Italian auction where it went rather unnoticed (bought at base
price as unsold lot)
The series of the Testoni with MELIVS EST DARE QVAM ACCIPERE is probably the most abundant and common Papal issue in the baroque era. It is said to have been produced for the Pope to finance war against the Ottomans, hence the motto ("giving is better than receiving"). However the
bulk of this emissions, with its variety of subtypes,
comes in the 1684-86 years when also the majority of undated coins can be attributed. Issues from years 1687-89 are rather
scarce, not to say definitely
rare, another detail that went apparently unnoticed in the
auction and makes this coin even more interesting. I gave it one degree or
rarity to play it conservative, but this coin has only one occurrence in
CoinArchives and this is from the same dies as this one (NAC 26 27/06/2003 Lot 2800).
Finally, a technical note. It is much more evident in hand than from the picture, but this coins has a serously ovalized
flan. The 0-6
axis is approx. 1 mm. longer than the 3-9
axis. This is a trademark of coins produced by a roller press. Coins were "squeezed" between two cylinders where
obv. and
rev. types were directly
engraved. Failing to compensate for
flan shape before minting would produce a polar distortion of the resulting coin shape. This is the oldest occurrence of this fact that I know, before this coin I only saw it quite often in the 1730-40's. Maybe this is a sign that the
Rome mint started experimenting wit the roller press when producing this small issue in the late XVII c., and that results were not satisfactory so use of this machinery was dropped, then resumed several decades later, when it was required again to
mint on a large
scale to fulfill the requirements of Clement XII's monetary reforms.
Thanks to Roberto Camillini for preliminary discussion about the subject of this post
Regards, P.