10 Scudi - Pio IX

Pio IX authorized this gold denomination following his return to Rome in April 1850, after nearly two years of exile in Gaeta — a direct consequence of the 1848 revolution that briefly installed the Roman Republic under Mazzini. The resumption of papal coinage that year carried obvious political weight: the restored temporal authority needed hard currency as much as it needed French bayonets to enforce it.

KM#1125 spans six years of issue, with subtle die variations across the run that specialists track by the placement of the mint director's initials below the bust.