20 Soldi - Filippo IV

Philip IV of Spain held the Duchy of Milan as a Spanish possession, and by 1655 his administration was squeezing the duchy's mint to fund an exhausting series of wars against France — the Franco-Spanish War would not end until the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659. Milan's coinage of this period frequently shows signs of understaffed production and inconsistent planchet preparation, a direct consequence of diverted treasury resources. The 20 Soldi denomination occupied an awkward middle position in Lombard commerce, too large for daily transactions and too small for merchant accounting, which kept circulation relatively light.