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1 Zecchino - Joseph II
| Issuer | Duchy of Milan (Milan, Italian States) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1781-1784 |
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| Currency | Scudo (1515-1796) |
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| Obverse description | Laureate and draped bust of Emperor Joseph II facing right, with flowing hair tied in a queue and a laurel wreath secured with ribbons. The effigy is rendered in high relief with fine engraving detail characteristic of late 18th-century Milanese coinage. The circumferential Latin legend reads IOSEPH II D G R IMP S AUG G H ET B REX A A, denoting his imperial and royal titles, separated by pellets, running along the outer border of the field. |
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| Reverse description | Crowned oval shield displaying a quartered coat of arms incorporating the emblems of Milan (the Visconti biscione) and Mantua, with a smaller central escutcheon bearing the Austrian arms. The shield is surmounted by an imperial crown and flanked below by crossed olive and laurel branches. The mint-master's initials L B appear divided at the base of the branches, with the date 1784 incorporated into the circumferential legend MEDIOLANI ET MANT DUX running around the periphery. |
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Joseph II inherited Milan as part of the Habsburg domains following his mother Maria Theresa's death in November 1780, and the Zecchino issues bearing his name represent his sole brief window as Duke of Milan before his broader monetary reforms dismantled the old Venetian-style gold coinage entirely. He abolished the Zecchino denomination for his Italian territories by the mid-1780s, replaced by a rationalized coinage tied to his empire-wide standardization program — making this a genuinely short-lived type rather than an artificially compressed date range.
The Milan mint's Zecchino traced its format directly back to the Venetian ducat tradition, a lineage Joseph had little patience for.