Montenegro is missing. Paolucci is missing. Extremely rare.

Usual weaknesses in the foliage on the obverse. Two very light nick on the rim reverse, but a remarkably beautiful and well-preserved specimen.

Nice SPL.

Venetian coinage is characterised by the presence of opulent gold multiples, which have reached us in extremely small numbers and are today considered collectors' items of exceptional interest.

In Venice, it was common practice to visit the mint to replace badly worn coins with "new" ones; from this custom arose the common practice of minting multiples of the zecchino using current coin types. It is also known that there was lively competition among patrician families in minting gold multiples to display and flaunt (cit. Dr. Eupremio Montenegro, I dogi e le loro moneta, p. XLIII).

In this specific case, we are presented with a magnificent 12-zecchini coin, a denomination previously unheard of in the literature for the Doge Pietro Grimani, but fully consistent, from a philological point of view, with the issues made by previous and subsequent doges.

This specimen, in addition to standing out for its extraordinary aesthetic appeal, with the "powerful" lion of St. Mark depicted on the reverse, also takes on a further and significant historical-numismatic value, as it allows us to fill a significant gap in the monetary production attributable to the dogeship of Pietro Grimani.