Genoese Coinage and the Use of Money in Medieval Sardinia: The Padru Hoard (1139 to Early 1280s)

This article discusses a large coin hoard discovered at Santu Miali of Padru in Sardinia in 2004, during archaeological works in a medieval church. The hoard consists of 3671 coins: 175 grossi, 3442 denari, and 52 half-denari of Genoa, plus two denari of Asti, dating between 1139 and the early 1280s. The aim is to assess the composition, date, cause of deposition of the hoard, also to improve the classification and better define the chronology of Genoese coins of the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries. Overstriking on coins of other mints (Melgueil, Lucca, and later Asti), possible countermarks, and a contemporary counterfeit of one type of silver grosso are also discussed. The integrity and size of the hoard also provides information on the use and the circulation of 'foreign' coins in late medieval Sardinia.