1457, Doges of Venice, Francesco Foscari. Gold Zecchino Ducat Coin. PCGS MS-63
Certified and graded by PCGS as MS-63! Diameter: 20mm Weight: 3.54gm.
Mark standing right, presenting cross topped banner. Reverse: Christ standing facing, raising hand in benediction and holding book of Gospels.
Halo of light (mandorla) with 9 five-spiked stars around. Legend: SIT T XPE DAT Q TV REGIS ISTE DVCAT.
Francesco Foscari (1373 1 November 1457) was doge of Venice from 1423 to 1457, at the inception of the Italian Renaissance. Foscari, of an ancient noble family, served the Republic of Venice in numerous official capacitiesas ambassador, president of the Forty, member of the Council of Ten, inquisitor, Procuratore di San Marco. Before he was elected in 1423, thus defeating the other candidate, Pietro Loredan. His task as doge was to lead Venice in a long and protracted series of wars against Milan, governed by the Visconti, who were attempting to dominate all of northern Italy. Despite the justification of Venetian embroilment in the terraferma that was offered in Foscari's funeral oration, delivered by the humanist senator and historian Bernardo Giustiniani, and some encouraging notable victories, the war was extremely costly to Venice, whose real source of wealth and power was at sea, and to her ally Florence; they were eventually overcome by the forces of Milan under the leadership of Francesco Sforza.
Sforza soon made peace with Florence, however, leaving Venice adrift. In 1445, Foscari's only surviving son, Jacopo, was tried by the Council of Ten on charges of bribery and corruption and exiled from the city. Two further trials, in 1450 and 1456, led to Jacopo's imprisonment on Crete and his eventual death there. However, his death a week later provoked such public outcry that he was given a state funeral. Beside his profile portrait by Lazzaro Bastiani, Foscari commissioned a bas-relief bronze plaquette from Donatello, which survives in several examples.
His figure kneeling in prayer to St Mark figured over the portal to the Doge's Palace until it was dismantled by order of the revolutionary government, 1797; the head was preserved and is conserved in the Museo dell'Opera di Palazzo Ducale. His monument by the sculptor Antonio Bregno in collaboration with his architect brother Paolo was erected in Santa Maria dei Frari, Venice.
Foscari's life was the subject of a play. By Lord Byron (1821) and an episode in Samuel Rogers' long poem.The Byron play served as the basis for the libretto written by Francesco Maria Piave for Giuseppe Verdi's opera. Which premiered on 3 November 1844 in Rome. Mary Mitford, author of the popular literary sketches of the English countryside entitled Our Village, also wrote a successful play concerned with events in Foscari's life. Mitford's play debuted at Covent Garden in 1826 with famed actor Charles Kemble in the lead. The item "1457, Doges of Venice, Francesco Foscari.
PCGS MS-63" is in sale since Wednesday, December 30, 2020. This item is in the category "Coins & Paper Money\Coins\ World\Europe\Italy, San Marino, Vatican\Italian States (up to 1861)".
The seller is "coinworldtv" and is located in Wien. This item can be shipped worldwide.- Composition: Gold
- Country/Region of Manufacture: Italy
- Certification: PCGS
- Grade: MS 63