Search


CNG Bidding Platform

Information

Products and Services



Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 

The Austrian Occupation of Venice
Very Rare Franz II Zecchino

310, Lot: 492. Estimate $200.
Sold for $500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ITALY, Venezia (Venice). Franz II. Holy Roman Emperor, 1792-1806. AV Zecchino (21mm, 3.21 g, 12h). Struck during the first Austrian occupation of Venice, 1797-1805. S. Marco standing right, presenting banner to Doge kneeling left / Christ standing facing within mandorla containing sixteen stars. CNI VIII 10. VF, wavy flan, once mounted, since holed and plugged with scratches on reverse at plug. Very rare and historically interesting issue.


Much like Athenian owls and the widely produced Alexanders of antiquity, the Venetian ducat/zecchino was a trusted, international currency, changing remarkably little in design over centuries. It is not surprising that after Austria gained Venice as part of the Treaty of Leoben on 17 April 1797, and the abdication of the last Doge, Lodovico Manin, shortly thereafter, the traditional ducats continued to be struck. In addition to the hammered coins such as the current specimen, very rare milled zecchini of the same type were also minted in the name of Franz II (see CNI VIII 11, Ives pl. VI, 2).