Tuscany Cruciato

The Tuscany Cruciato's most striking feature is its bold cross design, which served as both a religious symbol and a practical guarantee of the coin's silver purity, a clever nod to the era's distrust of counterfeiters.

This silver coin was minted in Florence under the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, spanning from 1737 until the duchy's end in 1859. Early issues used planchets from recycled Spanish reales, reflecting the economic pressures of the time. Later versions varied in weight and edge details, depending on the ruling duke's decrees.

We don't know exact mintage figures for most years; records were spotty even then. What survives shows the Cruciato circulated widely in daily trade, from markets to monasteries.

One oddity: people still think these coins were blessed by popes. They weren't.