Bronze jeton from the Middle Ages (ca. 1500???).
23mm, about 2 gms.



Italian jetons were used for about three years at a time on behalf of Italian commercial companies and of the bankers or "lombards". Companies in financial venture capital lasted three years and shared profits or losses. The creation of a new company brought the striking of méreaux of account or "quarteruoli" and these seem extremely varied and numerous. CGB shows this jeton oriented as shown here on their web site and upside down in their printed catalog. Without knowing which family the design represents, it is impossible to tell how it should be oriented. These jetons are attributed to the Middle Ages. I am unsure of an exact date. I find the design interesting even if I can't tell much more about the history of the piece.

Hi Bill

"Jetons were not used over a long period in Italy. In 1202 a revolutionary new book on mathematics appeared, the Liber Abaci, by Leonardo Fibonacci, better known as Leonardo of Pisa. The word "Abaci" in the title refers only to calculation in general and not to the use of the abacus. On the contrary, in this book he introduced the modern algebra with the new Arabic numerals. The use of the abacus disappeared very quickly in Italy. In 1299, the merchants of Florence were forbidden to keep their books "in abaco" and were ordered to use figures. The last Italian jetons were struck in the 14th century."

This qoute is from: Jetons: Their Use and History by BERT VAN BEEK for the Chicago Coin Club.

This would seem to make your jeton date from the 1300's. It looks like a stylized flower to me so I think you have it the right way up.