Lucca 1806 franco
This specimen was lot 7526 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2022), where it sold for $144. The catalog description[1] noted, "ITALY. Lucca & Piombino. Franco, 1806. Felix Bacciocchi and Elisa Bonaparte. PCGS EF-40. A wholesome and well detailed coin, evenly struck and toned a medium to dark gray." This one franco was struck in the principality of Lucca while it was ruled by Elisa Bonaparte, sister of Napoleon. The five franchi appears fairly regularly in auctions but this smaller type is very seldom seen. The type was struck 1806-08, whereupon the tiny state was annexed to Napoleon's empire. After his fall, the pricipality was given to a relative of the king of Naples, then attached to Tuscany in 1847. It is now part of Italy.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 5 g, 0.900 fine silver, 24 mm diameter, reeded edge.
Catalog reference: KM-23.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Gigante, Fabio, Gigante 2016: Catalogo Nazionale delle Monete Italiano Dal '700 All'Euro, 24a ed. Varese, Italy, 2015.
- Montenegro, Eupremio, Montenegro 2015: Manuale del Collezionista di Monete Italiane, 30 ed., Torino, Italy: Montenegro s.a.s., 2014.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, The 2022 NYINC Sale: World and Ancient Coins, featuring the Mark and Lottie Salton Collection and the Pat Johnson Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2021.
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