10 soldi U decimu - Pascal Paoli

Pascal Paoli's Corsican Republic produced this silver issue during one of the stranger episodes of 18th-century European politics: a genuine constitutional republic, operating under a written constitution predating both the American and French versions, fighting for independence from Genoa while simultaneously being sold out to France. The Genoese, unable to suppress the rebellion militarily, ceded their rights over the island to Louis XV in 1768 — ending the republic just four years after this coin was still in circulation.

Paoli himself was deeply aware that coinage was a political act. Striking silver in his own name was a direct repudiation of Genoese monetary authority over the island.