GAZZETTA: COIN OF MOREA (VENETIAN GREECE)
Gazzetta (2 soldi), 1688-1690: Kingdom of the Morea (Venetian Greece)
Kingdom of the Morea — the official name the Republic of Venice gave to the Peloponnese peninsula in Southern Greece (which was more widely known as the Morea) when it was conquered from the Ottoman Empire during the Morean War in 1688. Colony of the Republic of Venice during 1688-1715.
ARMATA E T MOREA: Armata and Morea (unknown an explanation for such an inscription, because the term ARMATA is not geographical, like MOREA, and probably indicates an army, a navy).
SAN MARC VEN: Saint Mark of Venice.
Winged lion (Lion of Saint Mark) with nimbus holding the Gospel of Saint Mark in its paw as symbol of Venice.II: equality of coin 2 soldi.
- Copper: 29 mm - 6.50 g
- Reference price: 56$
COIN GAZZETTA — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- REPUBLIC OF VENICE, 16th-19th centuries (including with colonial possessions — Kingdom of the Morea, Kingdom of Candia, Governorate of Dalmatia, Venetian Albania, Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands, Septinsular Republic...): gazzetta = 2 soldi
GAZZETTA as coin name.
Gazzetta (also gazeta, gazzeta, gazetta) — historical, first silver (16th century) and later copper (17th and 19th centuries) Venetian coin.
According to Wikipedia, the first coin, which is now and probably at one time called gazzetta, appeared in the middle of the 16th century. It was a small silver coin of Venice with the image of the lion of Saint Mark and Saint Justina, which had a value of double soldo.
Interestingly, this coin has undergone a unique evolutionary path in its own way: initially this term was exclusively unofficially used to refer to Venetian coins with a face value of 2 soldi, and already at the beginning of the 19th century the name of the coin gazzetta was forever fixed in the metal. — A series of now rare coins of the Septinsular Republic under post-Venetian rule (Republic of the Seven United Islands, Ionian Islands in Greece) dated 1801, the denomination of which was indicated in the "gazeta" and "gazzeta" formats.
But still the most common in collections are a number of varieties of copper 2 soldi (types of 1684-1797), issued for various territories dependent on Venice in the historical lands of Istria, Dalmatia, Morea, Ionian Islands, Crete... They are united under the general name Stato da Màr (Overseas colonies of the Republic of Venice) and now belong to Albania, Greece, Croatia... All these coins had a similar design — winged Lion of St. Mark with value "II" on the obverse, and the name of the territory for which it was issued on the reverse (ARMATA E T MOREA, CANDIA, DALMA E T ALBAN, CORFV CEFALONIA ZANTE). All these coins in numismatic catalogs are called gazzetta or 2 soldi.
Regarding the name of the coin gazzetta, there are several versions of its origin: from the Italian term "gazza" (magpie) or from the Venetian language, in which the consonant term means "treasure" (unfortunately, I was unable to find such a word in confirmation of this version).
But another interesting thing: according to historians, in the 1560s, it was in Venice that a concise selection of city news, advertisements, and gossip was supposedly first printed on a piece of paper in large quantities. This was the prototype, the appearance of such a phenomenon in the history of mankind as a "newspaper". It immediately began to sell for a 2 soldi coin, which the people in slang for some reason (I don't quite understand why) called "gazzetta". It would seem, what is the point of "gazzetta", "newspaper" here? — The thing is that the English term "newspaper" in many other languages is consonant with the name of this coin, namely: "gazeta" (Polish and Albanian), "gazete" (Turkish), "газета" (Ukrainian)...
That is, the coin gave its name to periodical printed publications on a significant part of the planet.
