1 Zecchino - Pius VI Ornate shield

Pius VI — born Giovanni Angelo Braschi — ascended to the pontificate in 1775 after a conclave that dragged on for 134 days, one of the longest in the eighteenth century. The zecchino was struck almost immediately upon his election, with the ornate shield type corresponding specifically to the earliest years of his reign before design revisions altered the reverse treatment. His pontificate would ultimately last until 1799, when Napoleon's forces seized him and transported him to France, where he died a prisoner in Valence.

The .998 fineness places this among the purest gold coinages of any contemporary European issuer.