Tuscany 1677 testone
This specimen was lot 5612 in Künker sale 386 (Osnabrück, March 2023), where it sold for €1,600 (about US$2,068 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"ITALIEN, TOSCANA, Cosimo III. Medici, 1670-1723. Testone 1677, Florenz. RR Attraktives Exemplar mit hübscher Patina, fast vorzüglich. (grand duchy of Tuscany, Cosimo III Medici, 1670-1723, testone of 1677, Florence mint. Very rare, attractive example with handsome patina, about extremely fine.)"
The SCWC does not list any coinage for Tuscany in the seventeenth century except the piastri and the gold doppie. A testone was generally equal to one-third of a piastra. The duchy was quite impoverished by this period, a result of warfare and economic decline, and her coinage is scanty.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 0.917 fine silver, this specimen 8.88 g.
Catalog reference: Montagano 333 (R2).
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- [1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Katalog 386: Brakteaten | Mainz | Bibliothek Prof. Dr. Niklot Klüßendorf | Mittelalter und Neuzeit | Goldprägungen | Deutsche Münzen ab 1871, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2023.
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