Gold "is born blessed in the Indies ... comes to die in Spain and is buried in Genoa" (F. De Quevedo y Villegas)

With the biennial period of the Doges and thanks to the reform of Andrea Doria, Genoa experienced an era of unexpected political stability and great economic prosperity: it was the century of the Genoese, the bankers to the kings of Spain.

The usual iconography was replaced by the Madonna (“queen” of Genoa) with Child and the sceptre from 1637 to 1797: the large 3 and 6 silver scudi and the 20 & 25 gold doubloons appeared, genuine status symbols used for the major transactions of the republic's mercantile and financial aristocracy (see the 25 doubloon in display case D).