Ercole III d'Este ruled the Duchy of Modena and Reggio for barely sixteen years before Napoleon's forces ended the Este dynasty's centuries-long hold on the region in 1796. He spent much of that reign in complicated diplomatic maneuvering between Austria and France, and died in exile in Treviso in 1803 — the last reigning Duke of Modena of the Este line. Small copper fractional pieces like this one bore the full weight of everyday commerce in a duchy that never had the mint output of its larger neighbors.
Ercole III d'Este ruled the Duchy of Modena and Reggio for barely sixteen years before Napoleon's forces ended the Este dynasty's centuries-long hold on the region in 1796. He spent much of that reign in complicated diplomatic maneuvering between Austria and France, and died in exile in Treviso in 1803 — the last reigning Duke of Modena of the Este line. Small copper fractional pieces like this one bore the full weight of everyday commerce in a duchy that never had the mint output of its larger neighbors.