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Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 
323, Lot: 744. Estimate $100.
Sold for $425. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ITALY, Napoli (Regno). Alfonso II. 1494-1495. AR Coronato (27mm, 3.83 g, 3h). Gian Carlo Tramontano, mintmaster. The Archangel Michael, holding shield, spearing dragon / Coronoation scene. CNI XIX 20ff var. (legends); Pannuti–Riccio 3a. VF, toned, scratches.


From the Archer M. Huntington Collection (HSA 1001.1.9431).

Alfonso continued the Archangel Michael type of his father Ferdinand I, called Ferrante. His coronato coll'angelo, with its striking image of the Lord's justice, marks the suppression of the "Conspiracy of the Barons" (1485-1487), a revolt by local Italian nobles upset by the growing power of the Neopolitan king. Ferrante had promised pardons to those nobles who surrendered, but after the end of the rebellion he imprisoned and executed the leaders of the uprising. Alfonso took an active part in the suppression of the rebellion, and both father and son suffered blackened reputations for their cruelty.

When Alfonso II succeeded his father in January 1494, he inherited a disgruntled and bankrupt kingdom. Charles VII of France saw an opportunity and invaded the territory of the weakened king. Alfonso abdicated after a reign of little over a year, leaving his son Ferdinand II to fight to regain the kingdom.