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2 1/2 Soldi
| Issuer | Genoa, Republic of (1139-1797) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1671 |
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| Value | 21/2 Soldi (1⁄64) |
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| Obverse description | Central oval shield bearing a quartered cross, framed by ornate cartouche-style mantling with scrollwork supporters on either side. A ducal crown surmounts the shield. The encircling legend DVX.ET.GVB.REIP.GENV runs along the periphery, referencing the Doge and Governors of the Genoese Republic. The design is rendered in a bold, high-relief baroque style characteristic of late 17th-century Italian civic coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
The small silver fractional coinage of Genoa in the 1670s was issued under the Doge system, where the republic's chief magistrate rotated on a two-year term — a deliberate constitutional check against the kind of dynastic ambition that had consumed rival Italian states. This particular denomination sat at an awkward fractional value that made accounting in it genuinely cumbersome, yet the republic persisted with it to satisfy the needs of small street commerce in a city whose merchant class demanded precise small change.
At 0.55 grams, the planchets were notoriously difficult to strike cleanly, and off-center examples are far more the rule than the exception for this type.