World Silver Italy - 1285-1309 Naples & Sicily Saluto d'Argento PCGS AU55

Dramatic piece from the Middle Ages

ITALY. Naples & Sicily (Naples). Saluto d'Argento (Carlino), ND (ca. 1285-1309). Charles II of Anjou. The obverse presents a shield with the arms of Jerusalem-Anjou. The lettering reads,  ✠ KAROL'· SCD' · IЄRL'· ЄT · SICIL' · RЄX (Charles the Second, King of Sicily and Jerusalem). The reverse offers the annunciation scene: the Archangel Gabriel is at left raising right hand, speaking to the Virgin Mary at right. A vase with a flowering lily is between them. The lettering reads, ✠ AVЄ · GRACIA · PLЄnA · DnS · TЄCUM (Hail! Full of grace, the Lord is with you). Biaggi-1629; MIR-23.

PCGS has graded 2 of this issue, with 1 in AU55 and none finer. NGC has graded 4 examples of this issue with the finest being AU58.

King Charles II from the Bible of Naples, c. 1340. Image: Wikimedia Commons.

Charles II, also known as Charles the Lame (1254 – 5 May 1309), was the King of Naples, Count of Provence, and Forcalquier (1285–1309), the Prince of Achaea (1285–1289), and Count of Anjou and Maine (1285–1290); he also considered himself to be King of Albania and claimed the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1285. He was the son of Charles I of Anjou—among the most powerful European monarchs in the latter half of the 13th century—and Beatrice of Provence. His father gave Charles the Principality of Salerno in the Kingdom of Sicily in 1272 and made him regent in Provence and Forcalquier in 1279.