Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
32 Scudi
| Issuer | Monte di Pietà di Roma |
|---|---|
| Year | 1788 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Scudo (1534-1835) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The face is entirely executed in letterpress within an engraved ornamental border of interlaced guilloche work, with the denomination numeral 32 set in a decorative cartouche at the top centre. The body text, in Italian, identifies the issuing institution as S. Monte della Pietà di Roma and states the obligation to pay the bearer Scudi Romani Trentadue at ten giulj per scudo, valid throughout the Stato Ecclesiastico. Manuscript annotations, registry numbers, endorsements, and a handwritten date appear above and below the printed text, attesting to the cedola's active circulation history. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 32 GENNARO MILLE SETTICENTO OTTANTOTTO S. MONTE DELLA PIETA DI ROMA La presente Cedola vale Scudi Romani Trentadue da giulj Dieci per Scudo da pagarsi all` Esibitore Vaglia per tutto lo STATO ECCLESIASTICO |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Monte di Pietà di Roma was one of the oldest functioning pawnbroking institutions in Europe, founded in 1539 under papal auspices to provide low-interest loans to the poor as an alternative to moneylenders. By the late eighteenth century it had evolved into something closer to a deposit bank, and its fedi di credito — of which this is one — functioned as transferable credit certificates rather than conventional banknotes. The 32 Scudi denomination is an odd one, suggesting this was issued against a specific pledged amount rather than produced in a round-figure series.
These instruments circulated primarily among merchants and institutions in Rome who trusted the Monte's papal backing. The French occupation of Rome in 1798 effectively ended the institution's independent operations.