Watch List notes:

SICILY: Roger II, 1105-1154, AR ducalis (2.32g), Palermo, dated RY 10 (1140), MEC-14-212, Spahr-72, Roger II standing to right, wearing Byzantine-style crown with pendilia and loros, holding globus cruciger in his left hand, R RX SLS (Rogerius Rex Siciliae); Roger III standing to left, bowing his head to his father, wearing military tunic, resting his right hand on hilt of his sword, R D X AP (Rogerius Dux Apuliae), both men holding patriarchal cross between them, AN R X // bust of Christ Pantokrator, + IC XC RG IN ÆTRN (Jesus Christus regnat in aeternum), well struck, a few spots of deposit, VF to EF, ex Ralph A Cannito Collection. Dated the tenth year of his reign, the ducalis marks a momentous occasion in the triumphant reign of Roger II. A member of the House of Hauteville, Roger's father, Roger I, aided his famous brother, Robert Guiscard, in his conquest of southern Italy and was made Count of Sicily in 1072. In 1112, at the age of 16, the ambitious young Roger II set out to expand his inheritance. Through shrewd diplomatic maneuvering, and with the backing of a formidable navy under the capable command of his Greek admiral, George of Antioch, Roger possessed all of Calabria and Apulia by 1128. He was the acknowledged master of Mezzogiorno, but also a thorn in the side of Pope Honorius II, who watched warily as the young upstart encroached on his borders. What Roger wanted next was a royal crown-which, however, required the pope's blessing. The opportunity arrived two years later in the form of a papal succession conflict, as Innocent II and Anacletus II were both elected by different factions. While the former won the support of Lothair III of the Holy Roman Empire, Louis VI of France and Henry I of England, the latter had few patrons and saw in the powerful Sicilian a convenient ally. Roger gladly obliged and was crowned King of Sicily in 1130. His action set the stage for a decade of warfare, which saw revolts across southern Italy aided by an allied expedition led by Lothair. His tolerant religious policies towards Greeks and Muslims further earned him the enmity of the pope's supporters, as well as the epithet the "half-heathen king." But in spite of setbacks and defeats, he managed to outlast his opponents and subdue the rebel cities one by one. Following the death of Anacletus in 1138, Roger attempted to reconcile with Innocent, but his gesture was rebuffed. Instead, the pope personally led an invasion the following year, an attempt that abruptly ended when Roger's eldest son, Roger III, ambushed the papal entourage and captured him alive. It was only then that Innocent begrudgingly acknowledged his kingship in the Treaty of Mignano. With the entire region firmly in his grip, Roger promulgated in 1140 a series of new laws, known as the Assizes of Ariano, establishing a centralized bureaucracy and placing the kingdom under strict royal control. It was on the same day that he also introduced the ducalis, named for his son, the new Duke of Apulia. Modeled after the Byzantine aspron trachy, this coin portrays a ruler who aspires to be an imperial sovereign rather than a mere knight like his Norman forebears (cf. Lot ... of this sale). More crucially, the strategic depiction of his son recognizes his role in Roger's victory and proclaims him the heir to the throne. However, the duke would predecease his father, as would two of his brothers, leaving William to succeed Roger upon his death in 1154.

Estimate: 200-250 USD