1/2 Groschen - Jules III Alexandre Farnèse Legate

Jules III — Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte — appointed Alessandro Farnese the Younger as papal legate to Avignon and the Comtat Venaissin in 1550, a posting that came with the unusual privilege of issuing coinage in the legate's own name. Farnese held the position until 1553, making the attribution window tighter than the catalogue range suggests. The billon issues from Avignon under legates of this period are notoriously difficult to assign precisely, as the Carpentras and Avignon workshops operated with considerable autonomy from Roman oversight.