ITALY, Milano (Duchy). Bona di Savoia. Regent, 1476-1481. AR Testone (28mm, 9.50 g, 3h). Second period, 1479-1480. VF.

Triton XXVII
Lot: 1020. Estimated: $ 4 000

The J. Eric Engstrom Collection: Italy, Coin-in-Hand Video, Silver

Sold For $ 10 500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Go to Live

ITALY, Milano (Duchy). Bona di Savoia. Regent, 1476-1481. AR Testone (28mm, 9.50 g, 3h). Second period, 1479-1480. Veiled bust right / Phoenix left, wings spread, rising from flames. MIR 218/1; Crippa 2/A; MEC 12, 746. Small edge split, a few light scratches under old tone, light edge marks. VF. Very rare. The sole portrait of a woman in the Italian Renaissance series.

From the J. Eric Engstrom Collection. Ex Baldwin’s 71 (29 September 2011), lot 2047.

Bona of Savoy became regent for her son Gian Galeazzo after the assassination of her husband Galeazzo Maria Sforza on the porch of San Stefano on 26 December 1476. The rare Testone bearing her portrait were issued shortly before she renounced her regency and went into exile in Piedmont leaving the care of her son and the state to her brother-in-law Ludovico il Moro. With the exception of the medallic ‘Taler’ issues of Margherita di Foix from Saluzzo, the Bona of Savoy’s testone are the only coins of the Italian Renaissance to bear a portrait of a woman.

The final winners of all Triton XXVII lots will be determined at the live public sale that will be held on 9-10 January 2024.

Triton XXVII – Session Four – Lot 984–1341 will be held Wednesday afternoon, 10 January 2024 beginning at 2:00 PM ET.

Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.

We recognize that our users may have various Internet Browsers and Operating Systems. We like our visitors to have the best possible experience when using our bidding platform. However, we do recognize that it is impossible to develop applications that work identically, efficiently and effectively on all web browsers. The CNG bidding platform supports the latest stable major version and stable previous version of Chrome and Firefox.