Имитативен венециански дукат (цехин) с турска контрамарка от 70-те – 80-те години на XVII век
Imitative Venetian ducat (zecchino) with a Turkish countermark from 1670ies – 1680ies
Abstract
In the summer of 2017 in the aquatory of Lozenets village, Burgas region, the remains of a ship were found at a depth of about 9 m. It was probably sunken in the late 17th c. Among the various objects scattered on the seabed, 93 golden and silver coins were also taken to the shore, all of them from the 17th c. The finds entered the depot of the Anchor History Public Collection in the town of Ahtopol. A golden Venetian zecchino takes a special place among them bearing the name of the Doge of the Republic Domenico Contarini (1659-1675), and a Turkish countermark struck over it (Inv. N ОКИК М 0044/ 2017). The coin is 3,48 g in weight, and 21,8/ 21,9 mm in diameter. It is minted of high-sample gold, but due to the erroneous legend accompanying the image of St. Marco, the coin should be related to the group of the imitative anonymous Venetian zecchinos most likely made in the Levant. Often, imitations were made of low-grade gold, and many counterfeits from other alloys were also circulating in the markets; for that reason the Ottoman authorities periodically ordered to check them. The low-grade pieces were re-melted and the qualitative ones were countermarked and returned back to the coin circulation. These countermarks bear the legend of Ṣaḥḥ in Arabic – a real, good [coin] as the countermark on the piece from Lozenets says as well. After an analysis of the similar coins from the epoch known to me, I have come to the conclusions as follows: 1. Venetian zecchinos of qualitative gold bearing similar countermarks are very rare to appear in Southeastern Europe and the new coin is the only one piece from Bulgaria known to me; 2. It was countermarked just before the mid 1680-ies; and 3. The appearance of this coin along the Bulgarian seashore is most probably an indication of a Levantine origin of the ship in whose cargo it was found.
