CAROLINGIANS. Charlemagne (Charles the Great). As Charles I, King of the Franks, 768-814. AV Tremissis (19mm, 1.04 g, 6h). Lucca mint. Struck after the defeat of Desiderius in 774. + FL • A VI • A • LVC • A, six-rayed star; small leaves between rays; • in Vs and C in legend / D N CAR VLVS RЄX, facing half-length bust. Rossini –; Bernareggi –; Bernareggi, Tremissi –; Bernareggi, Moneta, –; Depeyrot 515B = CNI XI 2 = E&S p. 35, 96; cf. Gariel 172 = Kluge 199; BMC Vandals –; Arslan –; MEC 1, –. Deposits, some weakness with worn dies. Near VF. Extremely rare.
Ex Numismatica Genevensis SA 16 (14 November 2022), lot 314.
Following Charlemagne’s conquest of the Lombardic kingdom in 774 a short lived issue of gold tremisses was struck at a range of mints across northern Italy in his name. These rare coins are all of the same star / cross potent type of the defeated Desiderius except for an extremely rare issue at Lucca that remarkably depicts the King of the Franks on the reverse. Rossini records only six specimens of the portrait issue, four of which are damaged and incomplete. Only one other example has previously appeared at auction. That coin, from the Adams collection (Triton XIX, lot 2207), realized $180,000 in 2016.
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