Coins, Historical Medals & Paper Money

ITALY, Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, Lord of Rimini and Fano, 1446, a cast bronze medal by M. di Andrea de’ Pasti, bust left wearing armour and surcoat, rev. view of the castle of Rimini, 80mm (Hill, Corpus 186; Pollard [2007] 29; Kress 62). A somewhat later cast of good quality, good very fine with dark patina, but the surface has been tooled and buffed at time of manufacture and with a large piercing above the head £300-500

Matteo di Andrea de’ Pasti, sculptor, architect and illuminator, worked in Venice in 1441, then Verona and Rimini in 1446. He worked on the cathedral church of Rimini, dedicated to St. Francis and commonly known as the Tempio Malatestiano after Sigismondo Malatesta who commissioned its reconstruction. Malatesta and his mistress Isotta degli Atti are the subject of the greater part of de’ Pasti’s work (see next lot)