Messerano. Besso Ferrero Fieschi, 1559-1584. Tallero, AR 28.12 g. ø 41 mm. + BESSVS F FL MAR M COMES LAVANIE Armoured bust r., holding sceptre in l. hand. Rev. IN TE DOMINE SPERAVI Crowned coat of arms within an elaborately ornate frame, charged at the centre with the Fieschi inescutcheon. Unrecorded in all consulted bibliography. Apparently unique. A very interesting and unusual portrait, light iridescent tone and good very fine Ex Hess 261, 1992, 1664 and NAC 32, 2006, 46 sales. The mint of Messerano was active from the early sixteenth century until 1690. Very few issues of Besso Ferrero Fieschi are known, all of high rarity. Ravegnani Morosini reports, in volume I on page 332, a tallero similar to this one in legend and obverse typology (CNI 97), but featuring on the reverse a crowned double-headed eagle instead of the baroque quartered oval coat of arms. A similar coat of arms is known on the lira struck in 1566. The title of Counts of Lavagna was one of the most cherished by the Fieschi, who acquired the fiefdom from the Commune of Genoa in the 12th century. It is probable that the tallero was issued during the early years of his rule, as this title no longer appears in subsequent issues. The proposed specimen closely approaches in weight and fineness the talleri struck by Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, with whom the Fieschi were allied and for whom the same die engravers may have worked. Please find here the video of the coin