Sale: Nomos 5, Lot: 65. Estimate CHF1500.  Closing Date: Monday, 24 October 2011.  Sold For CHF1200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Italy, Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Cosimo III de Medici. 1670-1723. Medal (Bronze, 48mm, 41.78 g 12), by G. F. Travani (fl. 1634-1675), 1666. COSMVS III PRINC AETRVR Armored and draped bust of Cosimo III to left; on truncation, 1666; below, .I.F.T Rev. CERTA FVLGENT SIDERA (= the stars shine certain, ex Horace, Odes II-xvi) Ship sailing on calm sea to right; above sun with the astrological sign for Jupiter; at the bottom of the waves below the ship, TRAVANVS. Forrer, BDM VI, 130. Sharply struck and most attractive. Attractively toned. Minor die break on the obverse, otherwise, good extremely fine.

Cosimo III, the penultimate Medici Grand Duke, was a curiously unpleasant character. Of some promise when young, he became ever more conservative and religious, banning a remarkable number of activities and people who were happily tolerated elsewhere. Perhaps the most lasting of his actions was the establishment in 1716 of a specific zone for the production of chianti: this continued until 1932 when it was expanded. When he died the Grand Duchy of Tuscany was an economic ruin, wracked by ultra conservative laws.