Can this coin be worth $5000?

1914 Italian 5 Lira with Victor Emmanuel III in uniform, KM #56 . 25 g of Ag 900, 273,000 struck, but my Standard Catalog (37th Edition, 2009) says a fine example is worth $5000. $15 worth of silver, not quite 100 years old, why should this coin be so expensive?

 

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Well the mintage is fairly low 273,000, it could be that many didn`t survive, 1914 is the only date that type was issued, there is a 10 lire and 2 lire version but these had various mintage dates not like this.
It is a really nice coin, well most Italian coins were around that date period

 

It was a low mintage. However, these were extensively counterfeited and it would be best to get your's authenticated. A real one sold recently:

http://goldbergcoins.auctionserver.net/view-auctions/catalog/id/11/lot/21122/

 

273,000 is low mintage? OK, it's not millions, but it's certainly not insignificant.

My coin, however, is most probably a fake--23.5 g instead of 25, it would have to look a LOT more worn than it does to remotely justify that weight. And it doesn't ring like silver. Fortunately, it didn't cost me very much.

 

273,000 is a pretty low mintage, and then when you look at the chance that they were all put into
circulation, and that few may have survived, you could end up with a surviving population that is
far lower than the published mintage. That doesn't happen much with US coins, because the collectors
realize the mintage is low, and the coins are snapped up and put away in large numbers. This might
be one of those that people didn't notice was 'rare' until it was too late. Never know without research.

 

Out of curiosity, what are the words above the star on the lower right, reverse?
Behind the horse's rear hoof...
Is that words or a name?
That coin seems 'wordy' with names, and not national inscriptions.
Maybe that is normal for them? I only collect US, but this coin is interesting me.

 

Watch out for restrikes:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1914-RESTRI...2010664?pt=US_World_Coins&hash=item257255b9a8

 

Unless you bought it from the clueless, that tells me right there that you have a fake for sure. Hopefully you didn't pay too much for the fake copy.

 

Near as I can make out it looks like MOTTΛ INC, with the lambda (poorly struck A?) bigger than the other letters. This makes no sense to me, but the Std Catalog picture does vaguely hint at some writing here. The lefthand side, under 1914, says D.CALANDRA.M

 

I believe the rarity has more to do with WWI than general circulation rarity. I believe I read a great many, if not a large majority, of these were melted. Around wars especially you have to be mintages of PM coins, and whether they survived.

 

This type of Italian coins is very popular in fake-makers.

 

That side should say "MOTTI INC". Attilio Motti was the engraver (incisore), Davide Calandra was the designer. Here is some more info about the piece - and yes, there are many "reproductions" around.

Side note - this Wikipedia article says that the coins is considered to the most beautiful Italian coin. ("Questa moneta è considerata la più bella della monetazione italiana.") Don't know who makes such decisions but that may contribute to the price ...

Christian

 

This coin was in a thread a couple of months ago, and an Italian member said the same thing. It appears this is the consensus of Italian collectors, and I would tend to agree. Its a beautiful design, like a lot of Italian coins and art works. I would drive Italian cars more but its hard to keep the buggers running.

 

This is one of the most popular Italian coins.

$ 5,000 is the price for coins in medium grade, EF-45 as in the Goldberg auction, for higher grade the price could be $ 10,000 - 15,000.

It's a wonderful coin



petronius :smile

 

Yes, Petronius was the nice member from Italy who talked about this coin earlier. Nice to see you here again sir.

 

Thank you :smile

At this link, there is an interesting thread about the story of 5 lire 1914

http://www.lamoneta.it/topic/18255-storia-del-5-lire-del-1914/

It's in Italian, but maybe you can use Google translator.

petronius :smile

 

British cars are lovely on the outside, but electrical has been their bane for years. Alfa Romeo and Ferrari sound better than Austin Healy also.
​

 

Yeah, when I was younger I had a Triumph after I sold my Fiat. Neither had much luck keeping going. Afterwards I bought a 260Z and have been a japanese sports car driver ever since.

 

I would like a 280Z myself.

 

I hear ya. Take the 1909 S VDB penny. That thing's only got about 2 cents worth of copper in bullion value. It's a little over 100 years old. A Fine example is listed on numismedia around $1000.

Why? Because coin collectors are crazy.