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Showcase Auction 61253 16 Jan 2022
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Carolingian. Louis the Pious (814-840) "Portrait" Denier ND (814-816) VF Details (Bent) NGC, Pavia mint, Class 1, MEC I-Unl., MG-445, Dep-780F (8 examples studied), Biaggi-1806 (R4), MIR-812 (R4). 1.63gm. HLVDOVVICVS IMP ΛVC, laureate, cuirassed bust of Louis right / +PAPIA, city gate. A well-known and highly targeted emission, Louis the Pious' short-lived portrait coinage represents one of the few attainable portrait types in the whole of the Carolingian series. This, however, should not be taken as a sign of the class's availability, but merely the utter rarity of the parallel portrait coinage of Charlemagne, Lothar, Charles the Bald, Pippin of Aquitaine, and Louis IV d'Outremer. Clearly picking up on the perceived efficacy of his father's portrait issues, Louis chose this series as the inaugural money of his reign--broadcasting across the Carolingian realm for the first time the image of the king in Roman Imperial fashion. Unlike Charlemagne, who is thought to have only produced portrait coinage at the palace mint in Aachen (which supplied the dies for the other mints that may have minted this type), Louis established a minting program for his Class 1 emissions across the empire, resulting in various regional styles. While this coin closely follows the artistry of the pieces plated by Biaggi and Morrison and Grunthal (the latter being in the Berlin Museum), each specimen is struck from different dies.
Although examples of Louis' portrait coinage from a vast array of mints has appeared on auction in the past few decades--from Melles to Dorestad to Chartres and even Treviso--we have not been able to locate another example from this mint having become available in that time. Notably, Blackburn and Grierson did not list this mint for the type, with Monete Italiane Regionali only providing a line drawing and calling it extremely rare. Given that Depeyrot reports only having studied 8 examples, we fully anticipate this specimen to come highly contested.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/italy/italy-carolingian-louis-the-pious-814-840-portrait-denier-nd-814-816-vf-details-bent-ngc-/a/61253-99011.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-61253-01162022
HID02906262019
© 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Carolingian. Louis the Pious (814-840) "Portrait" Denier ND (814-816) VF Details (Bent) NGC, Pavia mint, Class 1, MEC I-Unl., MG-445, Dep-780F (8 examples studied), Biaggi-1806 (R4), MIR-812 (R4). 1.63gm. HLVDOVVICVS IMP ΛVC, laureate, cuirassed bust of Louis right / +PAPIA, city gate. A well-known and highly targeted emission, Louis the Pious' short-lived portrait coinage represents one of the few attainable portrait types in the whole of the Carolingian series. This, however, should not be taken as a sign of the class's availability, but merely the utter rarity of the parallel portrait coinage of Charlemagne, Lothar, Charles the Bald, Pippin of Aquitaine, and Louis IV d'Outremer. Clearly picking up on the perceived efficacy of his father's portrait issues, Louis chose this series as the inaugural money of his reign--broadcasting across the Carolingian realm for the first time the image of the king in Roman Imperial fashion. Unlike Charlemagne, who is thought to have only produced portrait coinage at the palace mint in Aachen (which supplied the dies for the other mints that may have minted this type), Louis established a minting program for his Class 1 emissions across the empire, resulting in various regional styles. While this coin closely follows the artistry of the pieces plated by Biaggi and Morrison and Grunthal (the latter being in the Berlin Museum), each specimen is struck from different dies.
Although examples of Louis' portrait coinage from a vast array of mints has appeared on auction in the past few decades--from Melles to Dorestad to Chartres and even Treviso--we have not been able to locate another example from this mint having become available in that time. Notably, Blackburn and Grierson did not list this mint for the type, with Monete Italiane Regionali only providing a line drawing and calling it extremely rare. Given that Depeyrot reports only having studied 8 examples, we fully anticipate this specimen to come highly contested.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/italy/italy-carolingian-louis-the-pious-814-840-portrait-denier-nd-814-816-vf-details-bent-ngc-/a/61253-99011.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-61253-01162022
HID02906262019
© 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved