10 Zecchini - Antonio Teodoro Trivulzio

Retegno was a tiny feudal lordship in the Duchy of Milan, and its coinage rights were exercised almost exclusively for prestige rather than genuine commercial circulation. The Trivulzio family — one of the great Milanese dynasties — used high-denomination gold multiples like this ten-zecchini piece as political currency in the most literal sense: gifts to patrons, payments to allies, demonstrations of dynastic standing to the Spanish Habsburg court that controlled the Duchy.

Fr#985a distinguishes this from the more frequently encountered 985 proper, a distinction that collapses for most collectors until they examine the die axis and minor legend spacing firsthand.