Teston - Gian Galeazzo II Maria with Regency of Ludovico Maria Sforza

Gian Galeazzo II was Duke of Milan in name only by 1491 — his uncle Ludovico il Moro had effectively controlled the duchy since 1480, sidelining the young duke with increasing permanence. The regency coinage of this period reflects that fiction directly: the legitimate heir's name on the coin, Ludovico's authority behind it. Gian Galeazzo died in 1494 at twenty-four, almost certainly poisoned, an event that freed Ludovico to claim the title openly just as the French invasion under Charles VIII was dismantling the Italian political order entirely.

The two-year window of this issue makes it relatively short-lived even within the Sforza teston series.