4 Zecchini - Ramon Perellos y Roccaful

Ramon Perellos y Roccaful served as Grand Master of the Order of St. John from 1697 to 1720, one of the longer tenures of the late Maltese period. The 4 Zecchini denomination placed this squarely among the Order's prestige issues — heavy gold multiples struck less for commerce than for diplomatic gift-giving and the settlement of large mercantile debts between the Knights and their Levantine trading partners.

The zecchino standard itself was borrowed directly from Venice, whose ducat had dominated Mediterranean trade finance for centuries before the Order began adapting the format for its own sovereignty coinage at Valletta.