Catalog
350 Scudi
| Issuer | Sacro Monte della Pietà di Roma |
|---|---|
| Year | 1788 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain paper reverse showing bleed-through of the obverse letterpress printing, with the denomination "350" printed in typographic blocks at all four corners. Two circular embossed or impressed dry seals are visible in the upper portion. Manuscript endorsements appear at upper right and along the lower margin, including a dated notation. |
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| Protection type | Dry seal, Manuscript endorsements |
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| Comments |
The Sacro Monte della Pietà di Roma was one of the oldest pawnbroking institutions in Europe, established in the late fifteenth century under papal charter specifically to provide credit to Rome's poor as an alternative to usurers. By the eighteenth century it had evolved into a sophisticated deposit and lending operation, and its printed fedi di credito — of which this is a high-denomination example — functioned as transferable instruments among merchants and the Roman nobility rather than as ordinary circulating currency.
The manuscript endorsements on the reverse record successive transfers of ownership, making each surviving specimen a minor archival document in its own right. The 350 Scudi face value was a substantial sum — well above what any ordinary transaction would require — which likely kept this note moving within a narrow circle of wealthy creditors before it was eventually redeemed or retired.