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1 Quattrino - Urban VIII Bust, Saint Michael
| Issuer | Papal States |
|---|---|
| Year | 1635-1636 |
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| Currency | Scudo (1534-1835) |
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| Obverse description | Draped bust of Pope Urban VIII facing right, wearing papal vestments including a richly ornamented cope and papal skullcap (zucchetto), rendered in high relief with fine detail to the drapery. The obverse legend encircles the effigy along the upper periphery, while the pontifical year in Roman numerals and the engraver's initials appear beneath the bust in the lower field. The portrait displays a bearded visage with naturalistic modelling characteristic of early seventeenth-century Roman medallic art. |
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| Obverse lettering | VRBANVS · · VIII · P · MAX · A · XIIII · G · M · (Translation: Urban VIII Supreme Pontiff (Pontifical) year 14 Gaspare Mola) |
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| Additional information |
Urban VIII — born Maffeo Barberini — oversaw the Papal States through the grinding years of the Thirty Years' War, a conflict that repeatedly strained papal finances and forced Rome into expensive diplomatic maneuvering between the Habsburg and French crowns. The quattrino was the lowest copper denomination in circulation, handled daily by Rome's laboring poor while silver and gold moved through entirely different hands. Urban's pontificate ran from 1623 to 1644, making this a mid-reign issue struck at a moment when the papacy was also funding the tail end of the Castro War against the Farnese.