[Copies of Medici correspondence concerning the mint].

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Author/Creator:

Medici, Vincenzo de'.

Language:

Italian

Subjects (All):

Medici, House of--Archives.

Medici, House of.

Guidi, Fabio.

Biffi, Lodovico Girolamo.

Mints--Italy.

Mints.

Speculation--Early works to 1800.

Speculation.

Finance--Italy--Early works to 1800.

Finance.

Coinage--Italy--Florence.

Coinage.

Manuscripts, Italian--17th century.

Manuscripts, Italian.

Florence (Italy)--History--1421-1737--Economic aspects.

Florence (Italy).

Italy--Florence.

Italy.

Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts)

Manuscripts, Italian.

Manuscripts, European.

Archives.

Penn Provenance:

Sold by Bernard M. Rosenthal, 1963.

Physical Description:

32 leaves : paper ; 344 x 231 mm bound to 351 x 234 mm

Production:

[Florence], 1610.

Language Note:

Italian.

Biography/History:

Florentine nobleman (1554-1612), senator and treasurer for both Cosimo II and Ferdinando I de' Medici. Director of the Medici mint (1609-1612).

Summary:

Collection of 19 copies of miscellaneous letters and accounts originally written by Vincenzo di Carlo de' Medici while doing business in Rome and Naples in 1610. Most of the documents appear to be business letters of various levels of formality (from highly formal to letters written in the first person) addressed to counterparts located in various parts of Italy (including Rome, Genoa, Florence, and Naples). The letters concern various kinds of banking operations and other transactions between Vincenzo Medici and individual businessmen, including Fabio Guidi and Lodovico Girolamo Biffi from Florence. Vincenzo Medici acted as financial director for the family mint and his correspondence contains information about loans and interest; financial products traded in business 'fairs' (national or international over-the-counter markets, such as the Piacenza fair, mentioned throughout the manuscript, where financial instruments such as forward contracts or bills of exchange were traded); and money transfers between various branches of the Medici banks.

Notes:

Ms. codex.

Title supplied by cataloger.

Foliation: Paper, i (paper) + 32; 1-7,9-10, [11-33], contemporary foliation in ink, modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto (leaves 10-33 are blank).

Script: Written in a cursive script, by multiple hands.

Watermark: Similar to Briquet, Tete humaine 15614 (Lucca, 1445), but with curlier hair and a pointier nose.

Binding: Contemporary vellum over papaer, no. 86 on spine; the heading 1610: Libro di diverse lettere scritte fuori da Vincenzo de' Medici per la zecca, no. 45 on upper cover.

Origin: Probably written in Florence in 1610 (f. 1v).

Forms part of: Gondi-Medici Business Records.

Cited in:

Described in Zacour, Norman P. and Hirsch, Rudolf. Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania to 1800: Supplement A (3), Library Chronicle 36 (1970), no. 2, p. 102 (Ms. Lea 505).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 1557

OCLC:

430195630