W. C a r e w H a z l i t t Coinage of the European Continent

434 The Coins of Europe
The reverse exhibits the duke on horseback. The Rossi
specimen, from the celebrated Montenuovo cabinet, fetched
2050 lire. A testone of the same personage, undated, but
from the likeness referrible to a later year, shews a similar form
of headdress, which was common to Monteferrato, Saluzzo, and
Bologna, but was, we apprehend, immediately derived in this
instance from the first-named quarter. Carlo Emmanuele
II. and Christine dc France struck pieces of 2, 4, 8, and 20
scudi in gold about 1640-42, when they returned to Turin
after the Spanish occupation and Carlo Emmanuele alone,
;
1648-75, one of 10 scudi. Vittorio Amadeo III., King of
Sardinia, I 783-96, had the carlino nnoi'o in gold =120 lire ;
and later kings gold coins =20, 40, 80, and 100 lire.
From the seventeenth century at least the soldo seems to have
been the monetary unit ;
there were 5 soldi in billon and
10 and 20 in silver. We are unacquainted with any copper
of Savoyard origin prior to Carlo Fmmanuele III., 1730-
73, of whom we possess ^ soldi.
During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (1282-
1418) a branch of the house of Savoy, descended from a
brother of Amadeo IV. (1233-53), ne^ Piedmont, and struck
money at Turin with the title of Prince of Achaia, obtained
by the marriage of Filippo, Count of Maurienne, in 1301
with the heiress of Villehardouin.
Savoy, with the rest of the continental dominions of the
house of Sardinia, was erected at the French Revolution into
the Piedmontese Republic, of which there is a limited and
scarce currency in silver and copper. We have before us a
mezzo-scudo and a piece of 2 soldi. The former reads on
obverse : Libcrta Virtu Eguaglianza , and on reverse : Delia
Liberia Pienwntese Anno VII Rep I In the centre of
a wreath of flowers Mezzo Scudo. The other side exhibits
a helmeted figure of Liberty seated on rocks, with right hand
extended and the left holding fasces, etc. The 2 soldi reads
on obverse, Liberia Eguaglianza, and on reverse, Nazione
Piemontese ; within an inner circle, soldi due in script
characters. On the other side is a triangle, within a wreath,
surmounted by the cap of liberty.