Ragusa 1731 1/2 tallero
This specimen was lot 35050 in Heritage sale 3094 (Chicago, August 2021), where it sold for $18,000. The catalog description[1] noted, "Ragusa: Republic 1/2 Tallero (1/2 Vizlin) 1731 AU53 NGC, An exceptionally rare date for this already highly challenging denomination, entirely unrecorded for the type by the Standard Catalog of World Coins, and reported in the Corpus Nummorum Italicorum from a single example, in the ReŠetar Collection (unillustrated). Indeed, a quick survey of the certified populations across both NGC and PCGS reveal that this is the sole example yet graded, and the only specimen to have come to auction in recent decades. Visually, the coin maintains a charming argent tone that lightens to hints of gold in contained areas of the fields, the conspicuous adjustment marks common to the series present over both sides, though not obscuring the central details. For the sake of accuracy, we note some planchet irregularities around 12 o'clock, not to be confused with a mount removal. Clearly a target worthy of the utmost bidder consideration. Ex. Numismatica Genevensis Auction 4 (December 2006, Lot 971)." The only mention of this denomination in the SCWC is KM 13 for an unpriced issue of 1748. Clearly, its listings are incomplete. 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.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver.
Catalog reference: KM-Unl., Dechant-Unl., CNI-VIb.224.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- [1]Cristiano Bierrenbach, Warren Tucker and Sam Spiegel, ANA WFOM World & Ancient Coins Platinum Night Signature Auction #3094, featuring the Cape Coral Collection, the WTR Collection and the Monaco Collection, Dallas, TX: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2021.
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