2½ soldi - Théodore I

Théodore I — born Theodor Stephan von Neuhoff — was a Westphalian adventurer who talked his way onto the Corsican throne in 1736 with promises of foreign military aid that largely failed to materialize. His reign lasted roughly eight months before he fled the island to escape his creditors and the Genoese blockade simultaneously. The coins struck during that window are among the most historically improbable issues in European numismatics: a self-proclaimed king, no established mint, and a treasury built on borrowed optimism.

Copper-plated steel for a denomination this small points to constrained production circumstances.