1/2 Scudo d'oro - Guglielmo Gonzaga

Guglielmo Gonzaga inherited the duchy in 1550 at age sixteen following the death of his father Federico II, and these early fractional gold issues belong to the uncertain first years of his rule — a minor navigating the competing pressures of the Habsburgs, the Papacy, and Ferrara simultaneously. The Gonzaga mint at Mantua operated under ducal privilege but production was never large, and fractional scudi in particular were struck in quantities that make survivors genuinely scarce.

Fr#532a distinguishes this half scudo from the more frequently encountered full scudo of the same period.