Anyone klnow what this medieval thingie is (other than fodder for LordM's vest)?

Aethelred

Thanks in advance!

harasha

Well, for one, it does not look medieval. Are you sure about the age?

wybrit

I can't say that I klnow.

STLNATS

Looks like a later Venetian grosso in the name of the Doge Andrea Gritti.

Here's a short biography I found (probably more than what you wanted, but you asked):

Andrea Gritti was born in 1455 at Bardolino (Verona). After his father's death his education, humanistic for the most part, continued under the tutorship of his grandfather Triadano who had held important offices in the Venetian Republic. As a young man he was taken to various embassies in England, France and Spain.
Around 1485 he moved to Constantinople where he engaged in commercial activities. Here he became a close friend of the Sultan Bayezid and took on the role of referent for European merchants there.
For reasons that are not at all clear Gritti was imprisoned during a conflict between Venice and Constantinople (1499-1503). This fact does not seem to have interrupted the flow of precious information and advice on how to behave with the Turks that Gritti continued to send to Venice, though we do not know exactly how this information was sent. In equally mysterious circumstances he was freed. His privileged position was such that the Sultan himself actually suggested his name to the Venetian Senate for the peace negotiations. This special relationship with Constantinople continued throughout his lifetime.
On returning to his homeland in the first years of the sixteenth century Gritti undertook several senatorial and diplomatic missions and in 1505 he became Podestà (an office somewhere between major and chief of police) of Padua.
In the meantime, as an upshot of Venetian expansion on the mainland during the end of the fifteenth century Venice had to defend herself from the league of Cambrai led by Pope Julius II. In May 1509 the Venetians suffered a severe defeat at Agnadello and consequently lost all their mainland dominions. Andrea Gritti, was nominated as Capitano Generale and rapidly re-conquered Padua and successively a great part of the lost territories. This, however, was a crucial moment for the history of the Venetian Republic; from this moment on Venice had to re-examine her policies and ambitions. In 1509 Andrea Gritti was elected to the Procuratoria di S. Marco: this appointment was a privilege enjoyed by a restricted number of Venetian nobles and is indicative of Gritti's prestigious political career. In the following decade he held a series of important positions both in Venice and abroad. His relations with the French Court were particularly intense during this time.
In 1523 he was elected Doge and he remained in office until 1538, the year of his death. He is buried in the church of S. Francesco della Vigna in Venice.

MSD61

This maybe a medal or Oselle. These were silver medals that the Doge gave at Christmas to all Venetian nobleman who were intitled to sit in the Maggior Consiglio. At the end of the thirteenth cen. the Maggior Consiglio ( Sort of like a parliment) ordered the Doge annually at Christmas to present a gift of five wild birds ti each of the 1,200 members of the Maggior Consiglio. This gift was a mark of dependence of the Doge on the Maggior Consiglio for his power. But with 1,200 members this took a toll on the local wild bird populations. So in June 1521 the Maggior Consiglio decided that the future gift would be "una moneta" with the vaule being one quarter of a gold ducat.

The name Osella is the Venetian word for bird. This was maintained for the name of the new gift, a medal, that could be spent as a coin. The Doge would decide on the design. The first Osella was produced during the short dogate of Antonio Grimani. The obverse of the osella had Christ, enthroned to our left, blesses the doge kneelling before him while St. Mark stands behind Christ's throne hands the banner of office to the doge. This scene was never repeated on the 274 other Oselle that were minted until the fall of the republic. But the sense of the scene became a major theme on these medals.

In 1523, the first year of the dogate of Andrea Gritti the Osella's figures were cut down to only two. St. Mark stands before a kneeling doge in most examples as seen in your example. But Gritti's first Osella has an enthroned Mark handing the banner of power it a kneeling doge. From the seventh year of his dogate, 1529, this type was produced and continued throught the dogate of his successor.

This info comes from a book I have about Jacopo Sansovino and the Venetian Mint

edit: missing words

STLNATS

This maybe a medal or Oselle

Now that I look at it, I realize its not a grosso so you may well be right. The time period is Gritti tho.



The Venetian mint book you reference is a great work and worth having whether one collects these or not.

goldrush00013

I don't know what it is , but I really like it!

Aethelred

Now I'm

lordmarcovan

Venetian. That's all I can say.

Aethelred

<< <i>Venetian. That's all I can say. >>



Got a window you want to use it in?

lordmarcovan

<< <i>Got a window you want to use it in? >>



No no no... it's only a Venetian blind if the hole was drilled through his eyes!

Aethelred

<< <i>

<< <i>Got a window you want to use it in? >>



No no no... it's only a Venetian blind if the hole was drilled through his eyes! >>



That is why we keep you around, to explain these numismatic issues to us!

Askari

Cool item!!