Trifollaro

Philip Grierson argues that it is likely an image of the count made from life, since it has no identifiable model or parallel in contemporary art or sculpture.

Those minted around the time of William's investiture by Pope Paschal II in 1114 bear an equestrian effigy in imitation of those of Roger I.

[4] In about 1184, King William II of Sicily began minting at Messina a trifollaro with a lion's face (or mask) on the obverse and a fruited date-palm on the reverse.

The lion's face appears to be a copy of a Siculo-Punic coin minted at Messina in the fifth century BC—1500 years earlier.

The date-palm may have been a symbol meant for William's Muslim subjects, since the Quran says Mary ate dates at the time of Jesus' birth.