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500 Scudi
| Issuer | S. Monte della Pietà di Roma |
|---|---|
| Year | 1788 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 500 SETTE GENNARO MILLE SETTECENTO OTTANTOTTO S. M. DI PIETA DI ROMA La presente Cedola vaglia Scudi Romani Cinquecento da giulj dieci per Scudo da pagarsi all` Esibitore. |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | 500 |
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| Comments |
The Monte di Pietà in Rome was not a bank in any modern sense — it was a papal pawnbroking institution, established in the sixteenth century to provide credit to the poor at controlled rates and shield them from usurious moneylenders. By the late eighteenth century it had evolved into something closer to a deposit and transfer bank serving Rome's mercantile class, and these large-denomination assignation notes functioned essentially as negotiable receipts against deposited assets rather than circulating currency in the ordinary sense.
At 500 Scudi, this note represents a substantial sum — well beyond everyday commerce. Such instruments moved between merchants, ecclesiastical institutions, and papal administrators, rarely passing through more than a handful of hands before redemption.