2 Carlini - Benedict XIV

Benedict XIV — born Prospero Lambertini — was among the most intellectually distinguished men to hold the papacy in the eighteenth century, corresponding with Voltaire and pushing through a serious reform of the Church's canonization process. His fiscal administration was considerably less celebrated. The Papal States ran chronic deficits through his pontificate, and the coinage of this period reflects a treasury under sustained pressure rather than confident sovereign minting.

The .2 variety distinction in KM#1164.2 separates this issue from an earlier emission by subtle die differences documented in Muntoni.