Francesco IV Gonzaga ruled Mantua for less than nine months in 1612 before dying of smallpox at age twenty-six, making any coinage issued under his name exceptionally scarce by circumstance rather than by minting policy. The parpagliola was a low-denomination billon fraction common to northern Italian states, its value eroded by decades of debasement across the region.
Bignotti MN#14 is among the rarer Mantuan minors of the period precisely because Francesco's reign ended before substantial production could accumulate.
Francesco IV Gonzaga ruled Mantua for less than nine months in 1612 before dying of smallpox at age twenty-six, making any coinage issued under his name exceptionally scarce by circumstance rather than by minting policy. The parpagliola was a low-denomination billon fraction common to northern Italian states, its value eroded by decades of debasement across the region.
Bignotti MN#14 is among the rarer Mantuan minors of the period precisely because Francesco's reign ended before substantial production could accumulate.