Description
Medieval Gold Florins series – Golden forint of Charles I (1301–1342) First coin of the collector series Gold Florins of Medieval Hungary Commemorative the gold forint of Charles I. Born of the House of Anjou in Naples, Caroberto was crowned King Charles I of Hungary in 1301, when the House of Árpád died out. His name is associated with numerous monetary reforms, of which perhaps the most important was the introduction of gold coinage. First mention of Hungarian gold forints occurs in 1326 and thus researchers theorise that the first coins were minted in 1325. The coin is patterned on the golden lily coin of Florence, the fiorino d’oro, which is also the origin of the name ‘forint’.
Front: The mandatory elements are found on the front: the top legend “MAGYARORSZÁG”,
the bottom legend, the denomination “10 000” and “FORINT”, separated by a period.
Between the bottom and the top legend, one finds the mint year “2012” on the left and the mint mark “Bp.” on the right. The middle features a depiction of the coin based on the golden forint of Charles I: the Florentine lily, with the circular legend “KAROLV•REX” (King Charles). As customary for all major in mints in Europe in that era, the Hungarian gold florin was patterned after the gold coins of Florence minted from 1252 on with the fleur-de-lis motif, which were also known as “gold lilies” (fiorino d’oro, also the source of the Hungarian word “forint”).
the bottom legend, the denomination “10 000” and “FORINT”, separated by a period.
Between the bottom and the top legend, one finds the mint year “2012” on the left and the mint mark “Bp.” on the right. The middle features a depiction of the coin based on the golden forint of Charles I: the Florentine lily, with the circular legend “KAROLV•REX” (King Charles). As customary for all major in mints in Europe in that era, the Hungarian gold florin was patterned after the gold coins of Florence minted from 1252 on with the fleur-de-lis motif, which were also known as “gold lilies” (fiorino d’oro, also the source of the Hungarian word “forint”).
Back:On the back, “I. KÁROLY” is the upper legend, and the dates of his reign “1301-1342” are in the lower legend. Between the lower and upper legend, one finds the Anjou lily as the symbol of the House of Anjou on the left and the right, with the master mark of E. Tamás Soltra below the lily on the right. The middle features a picture of the patron saint of Florence, as found on the back of the golden forint of Charles I, with the legend “S IOHANNES B” (St. John the Baptist). At the end of the legend on the back there was a small crown, which is thought to represent the mint in Buda. As this mark is found on all the known specimens, however, it is more likely that this refers to the Kingdom of Hungary as the issuer, thus clearly distinguishing this coin from the florins of Florence.
Keywords:Middle Ages, history, kings, goldFlorin, gold forint, investment
