Italy
The Popes in Rome. Paul II (Pietro Barbo), 1464-1471. Seal or Bulla (Lead, 41 mm, 58.06 g, 12 h), Rome. .S. /P-A-V //S./P-E-T On the left, enthroned nimbate figure of St. Paul to right, holding sword in his right hand and book in his left, facing, on the right, enthroned nimbate figure of St. Peter to left, holding key in his right hand and book in his left; between them, at their feet, globus cruciger. Rev. PAVLVS / P.P.II. On the left, the Pope, wearing Papal tiara and robes, enthroned to right between two cardinals, facing congregation kneeling to left before him. Serafini 172-5. Cf. British Museum 1856,0417.4 (brass stamps for this bulla), and PAS 583102 (Somerset SOM-FBA501) for an example found by a metal detectorist in England. A very attractive bulla, with a remarkably realistic, albeit miniature, portrait of the Pope. Attractively toned. Minor breaks and deposits, otherwise, extremely fine.

From a collection in the Low Countries.Pietro Barbo (1417-1471) came from a noble Venetian family and almost certainly had no clerical ambitions – he was destined to be a merchant – until his maternal uncle, Gabriele Condulmer, became Pope Eugenius IV in 1431. With the impetus of his uncle's patronage Pietro's career in the Church was a stellar one, and he became a cardinal in 1440. Thanks to his general popularity he was elected Pope on the first ballot in 1464, following the death of Pius II (Enea Silvio Piccolomini, the famous Renaissance pope). As pope he had numerous conflicts with his cardinals and was almost a rabid collector of art; at the same time he was intellectually conservative, and opposed humanist thinking. In fact, he twice imprisoned the famous humanist, Bartolomeo Platina, a favorite of Pius II's, for his opposition (Platina was rehabilitated by Paul's successor, Sixtus IV, who made him the Vatican librarian; incidentally, Platina is famous for having written the first printed cookbook, De honesta voluptate et valetudine, Rome 1474). Oddly enough, Paul II was fond of games and races and seems to have sincerely wanted people to be happy (one of Rome's most famous streets, the Via del Corso, gained its name from the races Paul II held on it; previously, in Roman and Medieval times, it was known as the Via Lata).