- Title
-
Il tesoretto di monete del Vicereame di Napoli (XVI-XVII secolo)nel Museo archeologico nazionale di Taranto
- Authors
-
AA.VV.
- Edited by
- Alberto D’Andrea e Giuseppe Sarcinelli
- Publisher
- Edizioni D'Andrea
- Year of publication
- 2026
- Language
-
- Italian
- Number of pages
- 136
- Format
- Paperback
- Size
- 21 x 30 x 1 cm
- Weight
- 606 g
- ISBN
- 9791282072229
- Notes
-
This study is dedicated to a group of silver coins issued in Naples during Spanish rule, between the 16th century and the first third of the 17th century. Although the coins suffer from a serious lack of information regarding their find location, they nevertheless provide highly important data. First and foremost lies in the composition of the denominations themselves: the complete predominance of tarì confirms what had until now only been hypothesized — namely, that scudi and half-scudi were used only for large economic transactions, while the tarì remained the denomination most commonly employed in everyday trade (at least among higher-value denominations). This large accumulation was therefore likely assembled either by a wealthy merchant or by a landowner who, however, did not belong to the nobility.
In his work Della Sicilia descritta con medaglie (1612), Filippo Paruta recounts that in Sicily, at the beginning of the 17th century, many silver coins of earlier rulers were still circulating, including Aragonese pierreali dating back to the 15th century. The composition of the hoard described in this book confirms the same reality for the mainland territories of the Kingdom as well, with tarì ranging from the reign of Charles V to that of Philip IV.
As for the reason why the hoard was concealed, only speculation remains. Generally speaking, the two main reasons for such concealments are imminent war or temporary storage for future use. In either case, whoever hid these coins never had the opportunity to recover them, thereby leaving us an extraordinary snapshot of a chapter of 17th-century history. - Condition
- New
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