10 Soldi Genoa Counterfeit

Bozzolo, a tiny Imperial fief in the Lombard plain held by the Gonzaga branch of Casal Malaghino, made a calculated business of imitating the coinage of its larger neighbors. This piece was struck explicitly to pass as Genoese currency — not a forgery in the modern criminal sense, but a legally ambiguous practice tolerated under Imperial privilege, where minor lords exploited the gap between their nominal sovereignty and the monetary standards of surrounding states. Genoa protested repeatedly.

The long date range reflects decades of intermittent production rather than continuous minting.