1 Zecchino - Manuel Pinto de Fonseca

Manuel Pinto de Fonseca held the Grand Mastership of the Order for an exceptional 32 years — one of the longest tenures in the Order's history — and used that stability to pursue an aggressive cultural and political program, including the founding of the University of Malta in 1769. The zecchino itself was the Order's deliberate imitation of the Venetian ducat, adopted to facilitate trade across a Mediterranean where Venetian gold had set the commercial standard for centuries.

Pinto's issues span three decades, and die progression within the type is well-documented by Gatt's reference numbering system.