Archaeological Museum of Bologna

This coin was issued by Alfonso I d'Este (1476-1534), Duke of Ferrara; in 1502 he married the daughter of Pope Alexander VI, Lucrezia Borgia, with whom he had four children. From the iconographic viewpoint his coinage is different from that of his father, Hercules, who had used mythological themes. Alfonso, however, takes most of the representations from the Bible, from the Old and New Testament.

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The man on the reverse is Sansone, a character in the Book of Judges (Old Testament) and he is depicted while discovers a lion's carcass, which previously killed, full of bees and honey. In front of him part of a tree with a snake. The legend DE FORTI DVLCEDO indictaes "from the duke comes the peace".

Provenance: Palagi Collection
Datation: c. 1509
Material: silver
Dimensions: diam mm 29,5; gr 9,71
Inventory #: 18480