1 Soldo - Filippo Maria Visconti Helmet

Filippo Maria Visconti, the last Visconti duke, ruled Milan in a state of near-constant military anxiety — he was famously agoraphobic, rarely left the Castello, and conducted wars almost entirely through hired condottieri, most notably Francesco Sforza, who would ultimately marry his illegitimate daughter and displace the dynasty entirely. The helmet soldo issues of the late 1430s fall squarely within the period of his campaigns against Venice and Florence, when the duchy's finances were under considerable strain from mercenary payrolls.

MIR 156 is among the scarcer Visconti silver denominations to survive in collectible condition, given the intense circulation demands of the period.