Hidden treasure on the banks of the River Po

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:47:14 +0000
Num. 20

A large hoard of coins discovered at Ro Ferrarese throws new light on circulation of currency
Carefully restored by the Civic Museum of Ancient Art, the treasure trove has recently made an appearance thanks to the joint involvement of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara and the city of Ferrara.
The money recovered was in a variety of denominations. Over 50% of the silver coins were from the Venice area (103 coins), with others from Ferrara (60) and Mantua (39); the remaining few were from Ancona, Bologna, Modena, Reggio and Milan.

Notable among the silver items for the splendid portraits on their obverse sides are the Ercole I d'Este testone and the coins of Francesco II and Federico II Gonzaga.

There were 27 gold coins, mostly Venetian and some papal. Most noteworthy were the eleven Hungarian gold ducats; these coins were used in many parts of Europe.

This particular find is not typical of a sum hoarded from savings, but seems more like the withdrawal of a sum from circulation, done at a specific time and for a specific reason.

Various theories have been put forward to try to explain the stash. It has been suggested that the treasure could have been the proceeds of a large sale, a large amount withdrawn to buy something, a military fund, or perhaps even a thief's hidden loot.

Carefully restored by the Civic Museum of Ancient Art, the treasure trove has recently made an appearance thanks to the joint involvement of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara and the city of Ferrara.

The money recovered was in a variety of denominations. Over 50% of the silver coins were from the Venice area (103 coins), with others from Ferrara (60) and Mantua (39); the remaining few were from Ancona, Bologna, Modena, Reggio and Milan. Notable among the silver items for the splendid portraits on their obverse sides are the Ercole I d'Este testone and the coins of Francesco II and Federico II Gonzaga.

There were 27 gold coins, mostly Venetian and some papal. Most noteworthy were the eleven Hungarian gold ducats; these coins were used in many parts of Europe.

This particular find is not typical of a sum hoarded from savings, but seems more like the withdrawal of a sum from circulation, done at a specific time and for a specific reason.

Various theories have been put forward to try to explain the stash. It has been suggested that the treasure could have been the proceeds of a large sale, a large amount withdrawn to buy something, a military fund, or perhaps even a thief's hidden loot.

Unfortunately, any attempt to place this event historically raises problems: none of the items in this collection postdate 1530, but deposit documentation mentions some money in the name of Ercole II and Alfonso II d'Este, not easily traceable today, which would put the time of the hiding of the money at around the end of the sixteenth century.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that the place where the cache was discovered was one where the burial of a large sum would have been easy, but where a high likelihood of flooding could just has easily have made it impossible to recover.