1 Doppio Ducato d'oro - Giovanni Galeazzo Maria and Ludovico Maria Sforza Piefort

The peculiar joint reign depicted on this issue reflects one of the more cynical arrangements in Renaissance Italy: Ludovico "il Moro" Sforza ruled Milan as regent for his nephew Giovanni Galeazzo from 1480, but the nephew held the ducal title until his death in 1494 — a death widely attributed at the time to poison administered on Ludovico's orders, though this remains unproven. Ludovico had every political reason to keep his nephew nominal and every personal reason to keep him quiet.

A piefort of the doppio ducato, struck at roughly double standard weight, this was almost certainly a presentation piece rather than a circulation issue — produced for diplomatic gift-giving, a practice at which the Sforza court excelled.