Alessandro Farnese spent most of his tenure as Duke of Parma and Piacenza governing the Spanish Netherlands as Philip II's most capable military commander — the sieges of Antwerp (1585) and the broader Flemish campaigns consumed his attention and treasury far more than domestic coinage policy. The parpagliola was a small billon fraction, its production delegated largely to mint officials while Farnese himself was campaigning north of the Alps.
The "young bust" designation distinguishes this type from later issues, a die-variety distinction catalogued under MIR#975 that collectors use to sequence the duchy's output across his reign. Farnese died in 1592 at Arras, closing the issue.
Alessandro Farnese spent most of his tenure as Duke of Parma and Piacenza governing the Spanish Netherlands as Philip II's most capable military commander — the sieges of Antwerp (1585) and the broader Flemish campaigns consumed his attention and treasury far more than domestic coinage policy. The parpagliola was a small billon fraction, its production delegated largely to mint officials while Farnese himself was campaigning north of the Alps.
The "young bust" designation distinguishes this type from later issues, a die-variety distinction catalogued under MIR#975 that collectors use to sequence the duchy's output across his reign. Farnese died in 1592 at Arras, closing the issue.