1 Scudo d'Oro - Alexander VIII

Pietro Ottoboni was elected pope as Alexander VIII in October 1689 at the age of seventy-nine, making his entire pontificate a race against mortality. He ruled for just over two years, dying in February 1691. That compressed window, combined with the Vatican's relatively modest gold output during this period, keeps his scudo issues genuinely scarce — this is not manufactured rarity.

His reign coincided with mounting friction between Rome and Louis XIV over Gallicanism and the régale controversy, leaving the papacy diplomatically weakened and financially strained.