Owner Comments:
This coin shows the angel Gabriel visiting the Virgin Mary to tell her "You're gonna have a baby Jesus!" to which she raises her hands and says "really, me?" A vase of flowers stands between them, and the arms of Jerusalem and France appear on the reverse, which is intentionally upright when the coin is rotated in-hand.
+ KAROL' DEI GRA IERL'M SICILE REX
+ AVE GRACIA PLENA DOMINVS TECVM
Charles I (early 1226/1227 – 7 January 1285), “Charles of Anjou,” was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the second House of Anjou. He was the first Capetian to be named for Charlemagne. In the Holy Roman Empire he was Count of Anjou and Maine (1246–85). in France he was also King of Sicily (1266–85) and Prince of Achaea (1278–85). In 1272, he was proclaimed King of Albania; and in 1277 he purchased a claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
The youngest son of Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile, Charles received Anjou and Maine from his brother, Louis IX of France, in appanage. He accompanied Louis during the Seventh Crusade to Egypt.
In 1263, after years of negotiations, he accepted the offer of the Holy See to seize the Kingdom of Sicily from the Hohenstaufens (recall the previous coin of Federico II Hohenstaufen). This kingdom included, in addition to the island of Sicily, southern Italy to well north of Naples and was known as the Regno. Pope Urban IV declared a crusade against the incumbent Manfred of Sicily (watch where you’re pointing that Crusade!) and assisted Charles in raising funds for the military campaign. Charles was crowned king in Rome on 5 January 1266. He beat Manfred's army and occupied the Regno.
In 1270 he took part in the Eighth Crusade organized by Louis IX, and forced the Hafsid Caliph of Tunis to pay a yearly tribute to him. Charles' victories secured his undisputed leadership among the Papacy's Italian partisans (known as Guelphs, like in Romeo and Juliet).
A riot—known as the Sicilian Vespers—broke out on 30 March 1282 which put an end to Charles' rule on the island of Sicily. He was able to defend the mainland territories (or the Kingdom of Naples) with the support of France and the Holy See. Charles died while making preparations for an invasion of Sicily.
32 of these appear to have been auctioned in the last 20 years on ACSearch.info, some of those being repeat sales of the same coin. There are four graded at PCGS, and 18 graded at NGC, with two more in "Details Grades" at NGC. Four including this coin graded AU55 at NGC and 13 in higher grades, meaning there is only one graded at NGC graded lower.