"BRIEF HISTORY OF OUR CURRENCY

One of the first rights of Sovereignty recognized to all States is the right to mint their own money, and the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem was no exception and started to mint their own currency after the conquest of the Rhodes Island in 1318. Later, in 1530, Emperor Charles V of Spain donated the Maltese Islands in fief to the Order of St John of Jerusalem, and through the intercession of Pope Clement VII, the Order, in spite of strong insistence by the Master of the Mint at Messina to deny it the right of mintage, obtained the privilege of striking coins in Malta. The first coins which appear to have been minted in Malta by the Knights were struck during the brief reign of the second Grand Master, Pietro del Ponte (1534-35). The Order of St John minted coins in gold, silver and copper during its 268-year rule in Malta.

After their arrival on the Island the monetary system was adapted to that of Sicily. In 1609, the Council of the Order also appointed a Commission to study the new regulations issued for the Sicilian Mint at Messina to ensure that coins struck in Malta would in future conform in weight and fineness to those of Sicily.

The Currency of The Sovereign Order was composed of several coins such as the Zecchino, _ the Zecchino coins in gold were also called the Ducat -, the Tari and the Scudi but from time to time foreign coins, including Spanish Doubloons and Piastres, Venetian Zecchini, Livournine, Genovine and Louis d'Or were allowed to circulate together with the local coinage. Because of the critical financial difficulties following Malta's Great"....