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1 Piastra - Clement XII
| Issuer | Papal States |
|---|---|
| Year | 1731 |
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| Value | 1 Piastra (1.05) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Draped and caped bust of Pope Clement XII facing right, wearing the papal camauro, with elaborate rochet and pectoral cross visible at the truncation. The engraver's signature HAMERANI appears at the base of the bust truncation. The circular legend reads CLEMENS XII PONT MAX, distributed around the effigy within a toothed border. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | CLEMENS XII. PONT. MAX. HAMERANI |
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| Additional information |
Clement XII, born Lorenzo Corsini, was already 78 years old and nearly blind when he ascended the papal throne in 1730 — yet his reign produced some of the most ambitious building projects in 18th-century Rome, funded in part by a controversial state lottery he legalized in 1731, the same year this piastra was struck. The lottery, essentially imported from Genoa, generated immediate revenue but drew sharp criticism from within the Curia.
The piastra was the prestige silver denomination of the papal monetary system, and Clement's early issues are distinguished from his later ones by subtle die differences documented in Muntoni's corpus — this being Munt#18, among the first year of his coinage.