Nomos 5

Italy, Florence. Alessandro de’Medici. 1531-1536. Medal (Silver, 33mm, 22.86 g 6), a cast by Domenico di Polo de’ Vetri (after 1480-c. 1547), 1533-1536. ALEXANDER.MED.FLORENTIAE.DVX.P. Bare head of Alexander to right. Rev. Female figure, half-draped, seated right on pile of shields, holding a cornucopiae with her right hand and, with her left hand, pouring out a libation from a patera over a burning altar to right. For the obverse portrait, see Attwood 774-775. The reverse is apparently unknown in this form. Apparently unique. A very fine original cast, the reverse slightly soft. Nicely toned, good very fine.

Ex Numismatica Ars Classica 50, 15 November 2008, 88.

This medal is apparently completely unknown. The obverse is certainly by de’Vetri and is found combined with either the portrait of Margaret of Austria, Alessandro’s wife, or with a memorial inscription to the assassinated duke. The reverse is similar to de’Vetri’s medal of Alessandro, which bears a figure of Pax (Attwood 770-771), but the goddess here is clearly different. She is, perhaps, pouring out a libation to the murdered duke