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2 Zecchini - Pius VI
| Issuer | Bologna (Papal States) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1786-1787 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
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| Obverse description | The obverse displays the papal coat of arms of Pius VI, an ornate escutcheon surmounted by the papal tiara and crossed keys, set within an elaborate cartouche with scrollwork supporters. The shield bears the Braschi family arms. The circular Latin legend PIVS • VI • PONT • M • surrounds the central device, reading from the lower left around the upper field. The coin's milled border frames the composition with a fine toothed edge. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Pius VI's tenure as pope coincided with the opening pressure of Enlightenment anticlericalism across Europe, and the Bologna mint's gold output of the mid-1780s reflects a papacy still projecting temporal authority with some confidence — just years before the French Revolutionary armies would strip the Papal States of that fiction entirely. Pius himself would die a French prisoner in Valence in 1799.
Bologna operated as a semi-autonomous papal legatine city, and its mint maintained distinct production runs separate from Rome. The two-zecchino denomination was uncommon in papal gold coinage of the period, making this a short-lived issue by design rather than circumstance.