Hello everyone. Sorry to post my first thread in this section, but it is what drew me to the forum. My wife and I were digging a new garden bed last night and dug up a 1936 20 lire piece. (My theory is that, since we live in a military town and it was a major WW2 post, it was probably someone's souvenir at some point). Anyways, we aren't wanting to know a value for selling purposes because she has always talked about finding buried treasure and so I was going to put it in a little display for her. But was curious some details about it. I have found out it is 1 of 10,000 pieces, .800 silver, mint unc condition is approx $7k, this is not unc. My guess is it is probably worth about $13 (the melt value) haha. anyways, here are the pics: Thanks.
Hello to you :hail: I have some doubts about this coin. Could you please check weight and diameter? is magnetic? Look here for information and photos: http://numismatica-italiana.lamoneta.it/moneta/W-VE3/42 petronius
So I measured the diameter and it is 35mm, I checked with a magnet and it is not magnetic. I don't have anything to accurately check the weight right now. I was going to try and get some better shots with my DSLR, but the battery is dead so i am charging that right now. Hopefully I'll be able to get some good pictures shortly.
Bumping an older topic sorry. Finally got a chance to take it to my local "Foreign Coin Expert" who proceeded to first tell me, before even looking at it, that Italian coins are worthless so he would just throw it in the free bin for kids to get interested in coin collection. Then told me only Silver or Gold coins are worth anything. I informed him, that as far as I know it was silver. To prove me wrong, he pulled out his book and realized it was in fact silver, and size wise (Weight, diameter) it was accurate. Then told me he would send it away for melt value. Unfortunately, he is the only one who deals with foreign coins within quite a distance of me :-(
That dealer is an idiot. Personally I collect Italian coins. I think they are beautiful and many are worth money, though there are many that are not too. I'd love to go through his free bin I think. You may not want to do Ebay but I'd bet you'd get some decent money from this if you wanted to sell.
This is a very rare coin. The Italian coins catalog estimate it from € 1,100 VG, to € 3,800 UNC. Your's is in a very low grade, and I have problem to estimate it, but its value, if authentic, is surely more and more than melt value...the dealer is an idiot, I agree petronius
I would definitely keep it if I were you. That's an amazing find, and all of what I can see of the coin leaves me thinking it's authentic (95% sure or higher). That coin is a VERY difficult type to find. The 1936 is the most common, with a mintage of 10,000. The other years (1937, 50 pieces -- and 1938-1941, 20 pieces) are very rare. Now that being said, yours is in very rough condition. Even so, I'd still put it's value somewhere around $200-300, low end. It's hard to "price out" damaged coins, but the quadriga design is very popular among collectors. Very cool find! Geographically speaking, where on the globe did you dig this up? Was it somewhere on this side of the pond (USA)?
I personally think if I sent it to a professional place to be cleaned, it would be in decent condition (Not saying VG or Unc, but better than melt). You can make out all of the writing and details on it, it just has a lot of dirt on it. I didn't clean it at all because I've been told not to. As for location, I live in western Wisconsin. I live right outside of a post that was a big military post during WWII, so my thought is that someone brought it home as a souvenir.
I should find that coin shop you went to the next time I am in the area. Sounds like I might be able to find some deals since that dealer doesn't seem to know anything.
