Watch List notes:

Papal States. Clemente IX -- Giulio Rospigliosi (1667-1669). Scudo d'oro, nd. Roma. Papal crown and keys over Rospigliosi Arms, rev. Radiant Virgin standing facing, head æ left CANDOR LV-CIS AETERNAE. Ber. 1968, Fr.141. A poet, Clemente IX wrote both religious dramas and comic operas. After his election, he commissioned Gian Lorenzo Bernini to embellish Rome with masterpieces of art and opened the city's first public opera house. He worked diligently to strengthen the Venetian defenses against the Ottoman Turks on Crete. On learning that the fortress of Candia had fallen to the Sublime Porte, he fell ill and died a little over a month later. PCGS AU 55.

($9000-12000)