Nomos 22

ITALY. Venice. Francesco Contarini, doge XCV, 1623-1624. Zecchino (Gold, 21 mm, 3.48 g, 11 h). FRANC•CONT• - S •M• VENET• / DVX St. Mark standing right, presenting banner to Doge kneeling to left. Rev. •SIT• T• XRE• DAT• Q• TV / REGIS• ISTE• DVCAT• Christ the Redeemer standing facing within mandorla with twenty stars of five rays: nine on the right, ten on the left and one below. CNI VIII 74 var (number of five-rayed stars). Friedberg 1294. Gamberini 710. Montenegro 1323-1324 var (differing number of stars). Paolucci 1. Extremely rare. Some scrapes and abrasions, otherwise, good very fine.

Born in 1556, Francesco Contarini's parents both died when he was still quite young; he was raised by his two older brothers. Since they had inherited a considerable fortune he received an excellent education. He loved travelling and became an accomplished diplomat: he represented Venice in Constantinople in 1602-1604, and was ambassador to King James in 1611. He was elected doge in August 1623 as a more-or-less compromise candidate after a previous 79 failed ballots. Almost nothing happened during his reign, aside from the somewhat obscure Valtellina War between France, Savoy, Venice and the Swiss Canton of Graubunden against the Pope, the Empire and Spain. No one was particularly satisfied by the outcome; in any case, after a year as doge Contarini fell ill and died six weeks later. While his silver and billon coinage is relatively common, his gold coins are extremely rare.