Koen's Arma Christi theory - discussion of f34v (coins)

[arca_libraria]

I've been trying to find 15thC (or earlier) coins with reeded edges (looking beyond Europe too where possible) and I haven't found anything significant, but I did find a tarot deck with some interesting symbolism that you might find to be worth your consideration. According to wikipedia, playing cards seem to have entered Europe from Egypt at some time in the latter half of the 14th century. There are references to a card game known as tarot/trionfi in documents from around Italy in the first half of the 15th century, but the earliest tarot decks to have survived are mid-15th century or later.


One of the earliest and most complete tarot decks to have survived is New York, Morgan Library, M.630 (the Visconti-Sforza Tarot) which can be viewed here: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.


The cards I particularly wanted to point out are the regular cards from the denari/coins suit: this is the 7 of coins


I also thought that the face cards from the cups/coppe suit were all very interesting in terms of the design of the cups etched into the gold: