1 Scudo Sede Vacante

Sede Vacante coinage was struck during the interregnum between the death of one pope and the election of the next, issued under the authority of the Cardinal Camerlengo who governed the Church in that interval. The 1846 issue marks the vacancy following the death of Gregory XVI in June of that year — a conclave that lasted just two days before the election of Giovanni Mastai-Ferretti as Pius IX.

The brevity of that vacancy made for a limited striking window, and Sede Vacante scudi are consequently short-run issues almost by structural necessity.