Need A Definition

Wikipedia gives a description of it's disputed status

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovere...der_of_Malta

But as it owns no territory it's difficult to classify it as anything other than an organisation.

The Sovereign Military Order of Malta is one of those ambiguous entities somewhere in between "country" and "micronation". Personally, I classify it as a "government in exile" coinage, since prior to 1798 they were the legitimate government of Malta. I have one, and file it as a separate country, under "O".

They do own "territory", in a sense - two buildings in downtown Rome and a radio station out in the suburbs. The downtown buildings are extraterritorial, legally equivalent to embassies. The SMOM has also been granted Observer status at the United Nations, much the same as the Red Cross has and for similar reason: their humanitarian work. The coins used to be classified in the "regular" Krause catalogues, but were shifted to the "Unusual" catalogue in the 1990s.

Beware when buying SMOM coins: not all coins claiming to be issued in their name actually were. Coins denominated in "lire" are bogus, issued by a pretender Order based in America. Coins from "the real SMOM" are always denominated like the one in the OP: in scudi, tari and grani, the denominations used by the Knights on Malta pre-1798.