30 Baiocco Vatican Silver

1689, Vatican, Pope Alexander VIII. Beautiful Silver Testone Coin

Mint Year: 1689-1691 (not dated)

Denomination: Testone (30 Baiocchi)

Reference: Berm. 2178. Muntoni 19, KM-522.

Weight: ca.9.6gm

Diameter: 32mm

Material: Bronze

Obverse: Togate figure of Saint Bruno kneeling in clouds with nimbus of six stars around. His tiara and crozier are laying beneath him. Coat-of-arms of the Pope at 6 o’clock below.

Legend: SANCTI . BR – VNONIS .

Reverse: Papal crown (tiara) and crossed keys on foliaged coat-of-arms of Pope Alexander VIII.

Legend: ALEXANDER . - VIII . PONT . MAX .

Bruno of Cologne (German: Bruno von Köln; Italian: Bruno di Colonia; c. 1030 – 6 October 1101), venerated as Saint Bruno, was the founder of the Carthusian Order. He personally founded the order’s first two communities. He was a celebrated teacher at Reims, and a close advisor of his former pupil, Pope Urban II. His feast day is October 6.

Pope Alexander VIII (Italian: Alessandro VIII; 22 April 1610 – 1 February 1691), born Pietro Vito Ottoboni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 October 1689 to his death in February 1691. He is to date the last pope to take the pontifical name of “Alexander” upon his election to the papacy.

Alexander VIII is known for having overturned many of the policies of his predecessor, Innocent XI, deciding to indulge in nepotism in order to further enrich his family. Such nepotism exhausted the papal treasury, later forcing his successor, Innocent XII, to implement austere measures to restore the papal coffers. Despite his brief papacy, during which little of importance was undertaken, Alexander VIII is known for having condemned the doctrines of the so-called philosophical sin which was being taught in schools run by the Society of Jesus. Also during his papacy, King Louis XIV of France restored Avignon to the Holy See as a territory of the Papal States.