Ragusa 1658 grosetto
This specimen was lot 2424 in Steve Album Auction 54 (Santa Rosa, CA, January 2026), where it sold for $40. The catalog description[1] noted, "CROATIA: Ragusa, Republic, AR grosetto (dinaric), 1658, Saint Blase standing facing // Christ standing facing, crudely struck as usual, VF." The Republic of Ragusa was a Christian enclave on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. In the eighteenth century, it was an independent city-state surrounded and protected by the Ottoman Empire, which ruled most of the Balkans. Ragusa was occupied by French troops in 1805 and annexed by Austria in 1814. This obscure type was struck 1626-32, 1635, 1642-67, 1676-1716, 1720-28, 1748, 1751-57 and 1761. The later dates are priced higher than the earlier dates. The SCWC states, "Varieties exist", which we don't doubt.
The figure on the reverse is St. Blaise, of which Wikipedia comments, "Blaise of Sebaste (Greek: Ἅγιος Βλάσιος, Hágios Blásios; Latin: Blasius martyred 316 AD) was a physician and bishop of Sebastea in historical Lesser Armenia (modern Sivas, Turkey) who is venerated as a Christian saint and martyr. Blaise is...the patron saint of wool combers and of sufferers from ENT illnesses. In the Latin Church, his feast falls on 3 February. In the Eastern Churches, it is on 11 February. According to the Acta Sanctorum, he was martyred by being beaten, tortured with iron combs, and beheaded."
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 0.43-0.66 g, billon, 15-19 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM-5.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Hanbing Feng, Auction 54, featuring selections from the Kenneth A. Bovenkamp Collection of Ottoman Coins, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2025.
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