The Dr Jerome J. Platt Collection of 17th-Century Medals

Cromwell and Tommaso Aniello, c. 1700, a struck copper medal by F. St Urbain, bust of Cromwell left, olivar d g r p ang sco et hib &c pro, rev. thomas aniello de amalphi, bust of Aniello left, signed sv on truncation, 46mm (Platt I, p.346, type C; Henfrey pl. v, 2; MI I, 432/79; E 199). Nearly extremely fine, tan patina £200-£300

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Dr Jerome J. Platt Collection of 17th-Century Medals.

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DNW Auction 58, 24 June 2003, lot 1332

Tommaso Aniello (1620-47), aka Masaniello, a fisherman from Naples with a reputation for smuggling, was chosen to lead a protest against a new tax on fruit, levied by the Neapolitan nobility in July 1647 to raise money to pay the tribute demanded by Spain. The insurrection against the nobles was successful, and Masaniello’s mob of almost 1,000 citizens ransacked the armouries and opened the city’s prisons. Despite reaching an agreement with the viceroy of Naples, the Duke of Arcos, who confirmed upon him the title ‘captain-general of the Neapolitan people’ on 13 July 1647, Masaniello continued to stir unrest and was arrested three days later, only to be assassinated by a group of grain merchants said to be in the pay of the nobles. His head was cut off and brought by a band of roughs to the viceroy and his body buried outside the city. But the next day the populace, angered by the alteration of the measures for weighing bread, repented; his body was dug up and given a splendid funeral, at which the viceroy himself was represented. Masaniello shared no obvious similarities to Oliver Cromwell, other than a rapid rise to power at about the same time (Platt I, p.347).