bavarikon4UDescription
Obverse: IMP ROM - CESAR AVG. half-length portrait towards the right with laurel crown.
Reverse: FRIDE - RICVS. Eagle turned towards half-left, with unfurled wings, looking towards the right.
The Sicilian Augustalis was introduced by Emperor Frederick II (1212-1250, emperor from 1220), who was also king of Sicily, in 1231. The choice of portrait and the depiction of the eagle oriented themselves on ancient models. The minting of these coins was conducted at the mints of Messina and Brindisi, both of which were part of the kingdom of Sicily. With this type of coins, the minting of larger gold coins was resumed in Western Europe after an interruption of ca. 400 years. Shortly after the middle of the thirteenth century, the minting of gold coins was taken up once more by the cities of Genoa, Venice and Florence and became a success story in financial history.
Back in the Renaissance, the beauty of this type of coin was appreciated so that it was reproduced in several early modern publications. One of the main reasons may have been the well-made die cut after ancient models. The portrait of Friedrich, however, because of the ancient models, is considered an idealised rather than naturalistic image, which is not unusual for mediaeval traditions of depiction.