1 Scudo ou ducatone

Lucca's late sixteenth-century ducatone was struck under the authority of a republic that had maintained its independence through careful political neutrality — a rare feat for a small Tuscan city-state perpetually squeezed between Florence and the ambitions of larger powers. The MIR 197 attribution covers a tight production window, and the CNI XI references suggest at least two die pairings are documented, meaning examples are not all identical in die state despite the short span of issue.

At roughly 32 grams of silver, this was serious money — equivalent in weight standard to the Milanese ducatone from which the denomination takes its name.