In the year 1252 the Republic of Florence first issue a gold coin, known as the florino d'oro. Initially this gold coin carried no mintmark, after the year 1300 all the fiorini d'oro have a distinctive mark, which in most cases was the sign of the mintmaster. The post of mintmaster was prestigious and very remunerative, so it changed every six months.
To the greatest joy of collectors, the fiorini d'oro minted beetwen 1300 and 1505 have literaly hundreds of different mintmarks. These mintmarks are either in the form of a distinctive sign (such as a bell, a crescent, an arrow, an apple, a cross or suchlike) or they are in the form of a small shield with the coat arms of the respective mintmaster. Similar signs can be found on florentine silver coins of the period. Generally speaking the mintmark enables us to date the coins.
 

In ancient times gold coins were struck in enormous quantities, particularly by the roman and byzantine emperors. In fact, byzantine gold coins, along with relative large quantities of arab gold coins, were the only gold coins circulating in medieval Europe. As there was obviously a demand for gold coins, the rich banking metropole Florence and later on the even wealthier city of Venice decided to start minting it's own gold coins. Discounting the augustalis, minted in Brindisi by the emperor Frederic II (1197-1250), it was the city of Florence which first struck gold coins in large quantities. A few years later, Giovanni Dandolo of Venice (1280-1289) issued the first ducat, showing the kneeling Doge before St Mark of the obverse and Christ on the reverse. This type was continued almost unaltered until the end of the independant Repubic of Venice in 1797.
 

The fiorino d'oro pictures on the obverse the symbol of Florence, a large, beautifully designed lily. The reverse is equally well rendered, it shows the patron saint of the city, St. John, nimbate and holding a staff. This type continued to be struck almost unaltered for two and a half centuries until 1505, a few years before the Medicis came to power in Florence.
 

We know that the fiorino d'oro was widely accepted in Europe. The design was considered attractive and consequently the coin started to be imitated, first in northern Italy by the counts of Gorizza, then in Hungary by King Charles Robert of Anjou. Other countries followed, such as Austria (Duke Albert), the Dauphiné in France, Duke John of Brabant and Count Louis of Flanders. Later we find fiorini d'oro in Bohemia and Luxembourg (King John the Blind), in Arles and Cambrai, as well as in Avignon. In more and more countries the fiorino d'oro was copied, such as in Hainaut, Bleit, Namur, Fauquemont and Guelders (Low countries), Bar, Béarn, Burgundy, Lorraine, Orange, Provence, St. Paul (France), as well as by the French King John II. In Italy fiorini are known from Savoia and Savona. In Germany the fiorino was copied somewhat later by the archbishops Cologne (Walram of Jülich even issued a half and a quarter fiorino d'oro), the archbishops of Mayence and Trier, the city of Lübeck, as well as the dukes of Silesia. In Aragon King Peter IV (1336-1387) followed by John I, Martin, Ferdinand I, Alfonso V and John II, struck large numbers of fiorini. On all the above mentioned gold coins, the design is exactly the same as on the original florentine coin, only the legend is different, which enables us identify the coin.
 

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