1 Scudo - Ernesto Trial Strike

The Sovereign Military Order of Malta resumed issuing coins in 1961 after a gap of roughly 150 years, having lost its last territorial possession — the island of Malta itself — to Napoleon in 1798. The 1961 series was partly an administrative and diplomatic exercise, asserting the Order's status as a sovereign entity under international law despite controlling no territory beyond its Roman headquarters at the Palazzo Malta.

Trial strikes from this resumed coinage are scarce. They were produced to test dies and confirm specifications before the official issue — not distributed, not circulated, and largely retained within the Order's own institutional holdings.