1 Grosso - Urban VIII Radiant Madonna

Urban VIII — born Maffeo Barberini — was elected pope in 1623 and proved one of the more financially aggressive pontiffs of the seventeenth century, repeatedly debasing the papal coinage to fund military campaigns in the Duchy of Castro. This grosso predates the worst of those debasements, struck at a notably high fineness that would not be maintained in later issues under the same pontificate.

The two-year window of production is tight, and surviving examples in collectible condition are genuinely scarce rather than merely marketed as such.