Merchant of Venice.

SkyMan

Any information you can give me about this ducat would be most appreciated. Thank you.

Zohar

I will say this is very cool. I believe these are related to the various "Doges".
Silvereagle82 may be the man to answer this.

Silvereagle82

Below is some information about the ducat.
I can't make out the Doge name which is down the right side edge of the obverse. It looks like in could be Andrea Dandolo but the Latin letters don't seem to read "ANDR DANDVLO" which would identify this coin as his rule. If in hand you can further identify the letters down the right side I'll reference it for you.
The first four letters are ANDR which is "ANDREA" the last name is the question. There are four Doges with the first name of Andrea
Dandolo, Gritti, Contarini, and Vendramn. If I had to guess I would say it is Dandolo because the letters don't close to matching the other 3.


Design: OBVERSE: Doge (or Duke) kneeling before a standing figure of St. Mark handing the doge the Venetians’ sacred banner, the gonfalone. Down along the staff of the gonfalone is the word “DVX” – “duke” and the legend reads: SMVENETI – “Scared Money of Venice” on the left and on the right ANDREA CONTANNI the name of the Doge. ~ REVERSE: Christ standing within a mandorla, with stars of heaven to either side, 4 stars on the left and 5 stars on the right; holding his right hand in benediction and the book of the Gospels in his left. The legend, in abbreviated Latin, SIT TIBI CHRISTE DATUS QUEM TU REGIS ISTE DUCATUS - “May This Royal Ducat (Duchy) Be Dedicated to Thee O’ Christ”
Mint: Venice (Zecca)
Mintage: Unknown
References: Fr. 1227
Specifications: Diameter – 20.0 mm
Weight – 3.500 g. @ 0.9860 Gold = .1107 oz AGW
Notes:
- Type I design. This design continued basically the same from 1285 until 1797 when Venice was captured by Napoleon.
- There was a total of 120 Doges from Year 697-1797
- Saint Mark is the patron saint of Venice
- The Venice (Zecca) Mint opened in 1284 and Venice soon became the primary market for gold in the world. In 1285 the first Venetian gold ducat was minted at 3.5 grams of .986 gold. These specifications for the ducat would remain the same until today. This coin, the “Ducat” became a symbol of wealth and power for the next 500 years.
- Considered by many to be the most important coin of the Middle Ages and one of the most popular gold coins ever.

Silvereagle82

I've identified it ..... Doge Andrea Contarini !!
Andrea Contarini was doge of Venice from 1367 to 1382.
Reference photo

Hope this helps !!

Zohar

Now responses of this detail and quality are what this forum is all about

SkyMan

Thank you SE82 VERY much for all the information!!! I really appreciate it!!! Thank you also Zohar for your kind comments!

bidask

nice looking coin.......!