File:Tuscany SB119-43388o.jpg

This specimen was lot 43388 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2019), where it sold for $630. The catalog description^[1] noted,

"ITALY. Tuscany. Testone, 1567. Cosimo I De Medici (1537-74). PCGS EF-40. 9.15 gms. CNI XII 180; Morosini II 14. Nicely toned and evenly presented with a fine Renaissance portrait of the Duke on the obverse and St. John the Baptist seated on the reverse. RARE as a type and one of the finer examples we've seen. After the murder of Alessandro de Medici (see Florence for one of his testone we are offering in this sale), Cosimo established himself as Duke of Florence in 1537. He successfully arranged the evacuation of Spanish troops and conquered the city of Siena in 1555. The pope made him grand duke of Tuscany in 1569, a title he and his heirs held until 1737. From the Collection of Dr. James Eustace Bizzell, II. Ex: CNG sale 73 (September 2006), lot 1209, and Stack's/Coin Galleries (21 November 1974), lot 1143."