1382–1400 Italy 1 Torensello Billon Antonio Venier NGC XF45

Coin Of The Venetian Arsenal

Known the world over as the “City of Canals, Venice is one of the world’s most picturesque cities. With its winding canals, striking architecture, and beautiful bridges, it’s a popular tourist destination. Built on more than 100 small islands in a lagoon in the Adriatic Sea, it has no roads, just canals lined with Renaissance architecture and Gothic palaces. Thanks to its geographical location, Venice was also a wealthy trading port from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance, making Venetian merchants key middleman between the Middle East and Europe. To maintain its status as a powerful economic and military city-state, the Venetians created an arsenal—a vast industrial complex consisting of shipyards and armories.

A Renaissance-Era Industrial Complex That Was Ahead Of Its Time

The Venetian Arsenal is a world wonder. Because Venice developed methods of mass-producing warships that were faster and required less wood, the Arsenal was one of the earliest large-scale industrial enterprises in history and was responsible for the bulk of the Venetian Republic’s naval power from the late Middle Ages to the early modern period. The arsenal made use of “Lean” manufacturing techniques more than 500 years before Henry Ford employed them in his Ford Motor Plant and were later popularized by Japan’s Toyota Motor Corporation. Using such techniques as standardized parts, moving assembly lines, continuous improvement, and designing for manufacture, the arsenal was clearly ahead of its time given the conventional production methods of the era. By the early 16th century, the Arsenal was so huge that it employed some 16,000 people and was producing nearly one ship per day.

Nice Extremely Fine Condition

All of this makes these 1 Torensello billon coins from Venice very rich in history. Possibly used by workers of the Arsenal, these come certified, graded, and encapsulated by the Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC) as being Extremely Fine-45 (XF45) condition with full, sharp details and only slight wear. Plus, each also comes displayed in a fact-filled story vault holder. Hurry to secure yours!