1 Centesimo / 1 Baiocco Obverse Trial Strike

The United Provinces of Central Italy existed for less than a year — a provisional government formed in 1859 after the Austrian defeat at Solferino prompted Tuscany, Modena, Parma, and the Papal Legations to expel their rulers and hold together pending annexation by Piedmont-Sardinia. This trial piece was struck during that administrative limbo, when the provisional government needed coinage infrastructure ready but had no guarantee the state would survive long enough to circulate it. It didn't. Sardinian annexation came in March 1860, rendering the entire coinage program obsolete before production began.