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7 Scudi
| Issuer | Monte della Pietà di Roma |
|---|---|
| Year | 1785 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Letterpress-printed cedola on aged paper within a decorative typographic border. The issuer's name S. MONTE DELLA PIETÀ DI ROMA is set in large italic type across the centre, above the main text body stating the obligation to pay the bearer seven Roman Scudi at ten giulii per Scudo, valid throughout the Ecclesiastical State. The denomination numeral 7 appears in a cartouche at the top centre, with handwritten manuscript entries recording the register number, serial number, date, and multiple authorising signatures in the lower portion. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 7 |
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| Comments |
The Monte della Pietà di Roma was a charitable lending institution founded in 1539, originally conceived to provide low-interest loans to the Roman poor as an alternative to predatory moneylending. By the late eighteenth century it had evolved into a quasi-banking body operating under direct papal oversight, and its printed fede di credito — credit certificates of which this is one — functioned as a circulating paper currency within the Papal States long before any central emission authority existed in Rome.
The 7 scudi denomination is an odd figure by any standard, almost certainly reflecting the face value of specific pledged collateral rather than a round monetary unit designed for general commerce. These instruments lived between the pawnbroking ledger and the banknote, and that ambiguity defines them.