15 Tarì - Manuel Pinto de Fonseca

Manuel Pinto de Fonseca held the Grand Mastership of the Order of Malta longer than any other in the eighteenth century — from 1741 until his death in 1773 at a claimed age of ninety-two. The tarì denominations struck under his rule were the backbone of commercial exchange across Malta and the central Mediterranean, accepted well beyond the island's shores due to the Order's financial credibility as a sovereign military institution.

KM#258.1 distinguishes this variety from closely related dies issued across the same period. The coinage of Pinto's later years shows minor administrative adjustments in the mint's output, likely reflecting the gradual institutional changes preceding the transition to the reign of Francisco Ximenes de Texada in 1773.