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18 Scudi - Pope Pius VI
| Issuer | Sacro Monte della Pietà di Roma |
|---|---|
| Year | 1785-1795 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Typeset cedola entirely in letterpress, enclosed within a double rectangular border of ornamental guilloche chain. The issuer's name, S. MONTE DELLA PIETÀ DI ROMA, is set in large display type at centre, above the denomination DICIDOTTO in an oval cartouche flanked by decorative chain ornaments. The date line at top reads PRIMO FEBRARO MILLE SETTECENTO NOVANTADUE, with manuscript endorsements, registry number, and authorising signatures applied in ink over the printed text. The series letter and number J8 appear in a small ornamental frame at top centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | PRIMO FEBRARO MILLE SETTECENTO NOVANTADUE S. MONTE DELLA PIETA` DI ROMA La presente Cedola vale Scudi Romani Dicidotto da giuli Dieci per Scudo da pagarsi all` Esibitore Vaglia per tutto lo STATO ECCLESIASTICO |
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| Comments |
The Sacro Monte della Pietà di Roma was a pawnbroking institution founded in 1539 specifically to offer the Roman poor an alternative to usurious moneylenders. By the late eighteenth century it had evolved into a quasi-banking authority, issuing hand-written cedole — obligation notes — that circulated as a de facto paper currency within the Papal States. This 18 Scudi denomination sits in an unusual register: too large for everyday transactions, too small for major commercial settlements.
Pius VI's pontificate ended in humiliation — Napoleon's forces seized him in 1798, and he died a French prisoner in Valence the following year. Notes issued under his authority during the 1785–1795 window predate that collapse, but the institution itself survived the Napoleonic disruption and continued issuing into the nineteenth century.
Each cedola was written and signed by hand, making no two examples strictly identical.