210, Lot: 385. Estimate $150. Sold for $97. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ITALY, Papal Medals. Clement VIII (Ippolito Aldobrandini). 1592-1605. Æ Medal (38mm, 29.54 g, 12h). Giorgio Rancetti, engraver. Dated 1602. CLEMENS · VIII · PONT · MAX · A · XIII ·, bust left, wearing zucchetto and mantum / VNVS · DEVS · · VNA · FIDES ·, allegory of Religion standing left, head turned upward toward heaven, holding chalice and long cross; · M · DCII · in exergue. Mazio 166; Lincoln 874; cf. DDL pl. XXIII, 10 (rev.). EF.

From the Luparello Collection.

A Florentine student of law from a modest background, Clement VIII sought a foreign policy which distanced the Vatican from Spain and toward France, ending the religious war and gaining a powerful ally. He issued many decrees against Jews, including where to live and what to sell, and banned the reading of the Talmud. The later part of his papacy was affected by his poor health which left him bedridden for much of it.