Owner Comments:
CNI-VIIa.63var (pellet placement). 3.56gm. fRAC FOSCARI | • S | • M | • V | Є | N | Є | T | I / • SIT T • XPЄ • DAT ? TV • | RЄGIS ISTЄ DVCAT •. Fully struck with stark parallel die polish filling the fields and an especially nice portrayal of Christ. The style of these changed during Foscari's long tenure, from this style on this coin, to the style seen on our next coin of Doge Malipiero. Francesco Foscari's reign as doge is important historically, and includes the year of the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453.
I have one of these that I bought raw from Croatia, but NGC noted it had "obverse rim filing" consisting of just a little tiny bite taken out of the rim. It had a great strike. It is tough to justify, but I won this one to replace it so my run of ducats could be problem-free. This one has a comparably attractive strike and features on all of the characters.
PCGS has graded six of these; one in MS61, three in MS63, and two in MS64.
NGC has graded 43 of these with 8 in this grade MS64, and 4 in MS65. At least one of them in MS64 at NGC is of a substantially superior style than this coin, and also the MS65 graded ones, I must confess.