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Sicilian oncia of account

The official conversion table calls it the oncia of account.1

Years
Under research
Where
Sicily
Family
Other origins
Status
Under research

The official conversion table calls it the oncia of account. That matters: it identifies a way of expressing what people owed, rather than simply naming a gold coin. The law also distinguishes Sicilian reckoning from Neapolitan ducati and grana.1

The law of August 17, 1860 made the Italian lira the monetary unit in Sicily. It allowed older obligations to be discharged in lire and set the oncia’s table value at 12.75 lire. Old and new money could settle obligations during the transition under the prescribed rules.2

Legal change took several steps. Notarial obligations were first to show both old and new amounts, followed by a requirement to use lire alone. The latter requirement and the change in public budgets and accounts were postponed to January 1, 1862. A legal deadline does not show when every private use of the old account stopped.3

Timeline

  1. An explicit account conversion

    The law recognizes the oncia and its settlement value in lire.12

  2. The deadline is postponed

    Specified obligation and public-account provisions are deferred.3

  3. The revised requirement

    The deferred provisions become compulsory.3

Coins and notes

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How do we know?

Earlier stages not yet researched.

Complete evidence record →
Legal history and sources
Direct account evidence
The oncia of account in the 1860 law
Conversion terms
1 oncia = 12.75 Italian lire
Earlier origins
Not established by these records

The 1860 Sicilian law names the oncia of account in table B. Its obligation-settlement tables distinguish old Sicilian reckoning from Neapolitan decimal money. The oncia is admitted as a regional account, with tarì and grana retained as its scales and denominations.1

Articles 14–15 of Sicilian Law 159 govern payments against obligations stated in old or new money. Table B values a ducato at 4.25 Italian lire and the oncia of account at 12.75 lire. These are the law’s conversion terms, not universal historical pegs.2

Law 128 of 28 July 1861 postpones the alinea of article 16 and article 17 of the Sicilian monetary law until 1 January 1862. This affects the lira-only obligation rule and public budgets/accounts; it does not postpone every provision or prove that old accounting vanished immediately.3

Other historical conversions

These replacements, contributions and local conversions belong to the currencies’ histories. They do not establish founding ancestry of the receiving currency.

  • To Italian lira · 1860–1862

    Sicilian Law 159 allows old-account obligations to be discharged in Italian lire, valuing the oncia of account at 12.75 lire in table B. The lira-only obligation paragraph and public-account deadline were later postponed to 1 January 1862. This is a later absorption into an existing currency, not its founding.

    Conversion terms and evidence ↗

Source notes

  1. Sicilian prodictatorial government, Agostino Depretis · Law 159, 17 August 1860, Raccolta degli atti del governo dittatoriale e prodittatoriale in Sicilia (Palermo, 1861)

    Printed pp. 215–220 (PDF pp. 122–125): articles 1 and 14–17; tables B–C. Obligation conversion and separate Sicilian and Neapolitan reckoning

  2. Sicilian prodictatorial government, Agostino Depretis · Law 159, 17 August 1860, Raccolta degli atti del governo dittatoriale e prodittatoriale in Sicilia (Palermo, 1861)

    Printed pp. 215–220 (PDF pp. 122–125): articles 1 and 14–17; tables B–C. Obligation conversion and separate Sicilian and Neapolitan reckoning

  3. Sicilian prodictatorial government, Agostino Depretis · Law 159, 17 August 1860, Raccolta degli atti del governo dittatoriale e prodittatoriale in Sicilia (Palermo, 1861); Kingdom of Italy · Law 128, 28 July 1861, postponing specified Sicilian monetary provisions

    Printed pp. 215–220 (PDF pp. 122–125): articles 1 and 14–17; tables B–C. Obligation conversion and separate Sicilian and Neapolitan reckoning; Gazzetta Ufficiale 198, August 14, 1861, first page, lower right: sole article; January 1, 1862

Full claim history and source register →

Cite this currency

“Sicilian oncia of account.” The Family Tree of Money. Field Technologies, Inc. Data v52; accessed 14 October 2026.

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