Ferrara. Ercole I d'Este, 1471–1505. Quarto, AR 9.67 g. ø 30 mm. HERCVLES DVX FERRARIAE Head l. Rev. Horseman walking r., his r. arm outstretched. CNI 25. Ravegnani Morosini 6 (testone). MIR 254. Rare and in exceptional condition for the issue. A superb Renaissance portrait of fine style, wonderful iridescent tone and good extremely fine The son of Niccolò III, Ercole was educated at the Aragonese court in Naples from 1445 to 1460. Following the death of his half-brother Borso in 1471, he became Duke of Ferrara and married Eleonora of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand I of Naples. Through the marriages of his daughters, the Este family established ties with two of the most prominent families in Italy: Beatrice married Ludovico il Moro, while Isabella married Francesco II Gonzaga. The expansionist ambitions of Girolamo Riario, lord of Forlì and Imola and nephew of Pope Sixtus IV, together with the rivalry with the Republic of Venice – arising from both territorial disputes and the struggle for the monopoly of the salt trade – led Ercole, in the 1480s, to fight the War of Ferrara against Riario, the Venetians, and the Pope. Under the terms of the Peace of Bagnolo in 1484, Ercole was forced to cede Polesine and Rovigo to Venice, territories that had been seized from him during the first phase of the war, which had begun in 1482. Girolamo Riario, for his part, failed to obtain the advantages he had hoped for. Under his rule, Ferrara became one of the leading cities of Europe. Ercole died in 1505, and his son Alfonso I d’Este succeeded him as Duke in the same year. Please find here the video of the coin