Italy Venice Silver Ducato (Francesco Morosini) 1688 to 1694

The dvcatvs venetvs (ducat Venice) means ducat from Venice and the fran mavroc means it is from the time of Francesco Morosini, who was Doge (a political leader) at the time. The lion on the reverse side represents Saint Mark of the Bible.

CoinQuest thanks Pavlos S Pavlou for use of the picture of this beautiful silver ducato from Venice. This coin is in wonderful shape and, at the time of this writing, is selling for over $700 US dollars. This is a tremendous coin, and very intriguing. Approximate catalog values run like this:

worn: $100 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $350
well preserved: $900

An interested reader, Seppo by name, has supplied some wonderful details about this coin. Seppo writes:

Hello! I can fill in some details. Jake's coin is a silver ducat (ducato d'argento). In the inscription 'S.M.VEN.FRAN.MAVROC.D', the beginning 'S.M.VEN.' refers to 'Sanctus Marcus Venetiae' (St. Mark of Venice, the city's patron saint) who is shown on the left, passing the national banner to the Doge, depicted as the city's standard-bearer and kneeling before him. 'FRAN.MAVROC.D' indicates that the coin was minted during Francesco Morosini's reign as Doge, which was 1688-1694. The letters 'Z Q' are the initials of the superintendent of the Venetian mint, Zuane Querini, who was apparently superintendent of the mint only one year 1689.
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