Nomos 5

Italy, Venice. Nicolò Donà, XLIII Doge of Venice. 5 April -10 May 1618. Medal (Silver, 50.8mm, 59.46 g), struck on the first 5th anniversary of his death, by an uncertain Venetian artist, 1623. NICOLAVS DONATO DVX VENETIARVM Bust of the Doge to right, wearing high tiara and official robes Rev. MDCXXIII / POST / OBITVM / QVINQVENIO / .I. within elaborate garland. Voltolina II, 59, 889. An original, struck example, nicely toned and very rare. Nearly extremely fine.

Ex Numismatica Genevensis 4, 11 December 2006, 903 and Astarte XIX, 6 May 2006, 297, and from the Serenissima Collection, II, Arsantiqva, 8 November 2002, 17 .

This is a particularly curious medal! Nicolò Dona was one of the more eccentric and bizarre Doges in Venetian history: he was a notorious miser who made immense sums from trade but never married and never really wanted to go into politics because that required spending money. However, during the crisis of 1618, when Spanish plots to seize Venice were in the air, the reigning Doge Giovanni Bembo, suddenly died and Donà was elected his successor as a stopgap. One of his first acts as Doge was to throw a banquet to belie his reputation for stinginess, but his relatives, who were even stingier than he, stopped people at the door to save money! At his death his fortune passed to his brother and his nephews. One of the terms of the bequest was that every five years at the anniversary of his death a silver medal be struck bearing his portrait and given to his relatives so that he would not be forgotten. This comes from the first five-year period: other examples are known in both silver and gold at varying weights (the will specified the weights for different relatives - the present piece would have gone to his sister’s sons). The latest known example is from the 14th cycle, or 1688: after that either the money ran out or the family just gave up!