Catalog
12 Scudi Romani - Pope Pius VI
| Issuer | S. Monte della Pietà di Roma |
|---|---|
| Year | 1792 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 186 × 139 mm |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Plain typeset note within a single-rule rectangular border ornamented with a continuous rosette guilloche frame. The issuer's name 'S. MONTE DELLA PIETA' DI ROMA' is set in large display typeface across the upper portion, below a letterpress date line reading 'PRIMO FEBRARO MILLE SETTECENTO NOVANTADUE'. The denomination 'Dodici' Scudi Romani is stated in the body text with 'Dieci' giulj per Scudo, payable to the bearer ('Esibitore'), with manuscript annotations, handwritten signatures, and an oval validation stamp applied over the face; a letterpress series designation appears at upper centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | PRIMO FEBRARO MILLE SETTECENTO NOVANTADUE S. MONTE DELLA PIETA' DI ROMA La presente Cedola vale Scudi Romani Dodici da giuli Dieci per Scudo da pagarsi all' Esibitore Registro 1815 Num Ventisei Vaglia per tutto lo STATO ECCLESIASTICO |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Monte di Pietà in Rome was not a bank in any modern sense — it was a charitable pawn institution, established in the sixteenth century to provide low-interest loans to the poor as an explicit counter to usurious moneylenders. By the late eighteenth century it had evolved into one of the principal quasi-fiscal instruments of the Papal Treasury, and its printed fedi di credito circulated as a functional paper currency across the Papal States.
1792 placed this note in a precarious moment: Pius VI was already watching the French Revolution dismantle Catholic institutions across the Alps, and within six years French troops would occupy Rome, strip the Monte di Pietà of much of its bullion reserve, and haul the pope himself into captivity. Notes issued in this period were redeemable against pledged goods and metal held in the institution's vaults — a reserve that would not survive the French arrival intact.
The manuscript signatures and official stamp were not ceremonial. Each required a separate authorized signatory, and forgery of either was a capital offense under papal law.