By the Mint regulation of 1347, a new-named money was introduced called Guelfi Grossi, coined at a tale of 117 to the libbra (111 3⁄5 being rendered cash to the merchants, and 5 2⁄5 retained by the Mint for the state), at the same standard as before (11 1⁄2 oz.), but at an equivalence of 5 instead of, as previously, 4 piccioli per piece.
117 x 5 = 585 piccioli.
(= 29 lire 5 soldi di piccioli);
a figure which is considerably above the 27 lire 14 soldi piccioli, which Villani gives as the price of foreign silver at the time. Even taking the lower tale of 111 3⁄5 pieces, which the importer of silver to the Mint got for his bullion, there is a distinct margin of profit.
111 3⁄5 = 558 piccioli.
(= 27 lire 18 soldi di piccioli.)
Indeed, in its entirety, this operation of 1347 has a sinister look. At home the woollen merchants of Florence were obliged to pay wages in silver, abroad to receive payment in gold. It was to their interest to cry down the equivalence of silver; they paid less and received more. The means by which they brought the state to put upon silver a price so far removed from the market price could only be the bribe Page 23 contained in the relinquishing of 5 2⁄3 pieces in each libbra. But such a process is in reality the beginning of debasement.
If this is not the true import of the Act of 1347, it testifies all the more to the only other possible motive—the monetary straits of Florence, her want of silver for currency, and the violent effort she was prepared to make to get it.