2020-10-27 Tue

The Roman scudo currency was of the Papal States which were sub-divided into 100 baiocchi also equivalent to 5 Quattrini.

Herewith, Half Baiocco coin is of Pope Pius VII. The obverse of the coin depicts Papal’s coat-of-arm and reads ‘PONTIFICAT. ANNO XVII M. BAI’. And the reverse legends read, ‘PIVS / SEPTIMVS / PONTIFEX / MAXIMVS’ with Date: MDCCCXVI (1816) and mintmark (B). B stands for Bologna mint. It weighs 5.8 grams.

Pope Pius VII was the supreme head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in 1823.

The Papal States were confiscated by France and the French franc circulated officially in 1808. In 1814, restored Pope's authority brought scudo currency again.

Later, in 1866 the scudo was replaced by the lira which is equivalent to the Italian lira. The exchange rate of 1 scudo is equal to 5.375 lire.

Image Courtesy: Wikimedia.com