Along with the Vatican, San Marino has some of the most consistently beautiful coins I've seen, most in a Renaissance style. Here are the ones I have so far. 1935 10 centesimi 1974 2 lire 1975 20 lire
Well, the coins from both countries were and are not actually needed for circulation. (In the lira years, you would mostly find Italian lire coins in circulation; today it is euro coins from any member state.) So they need and want to be attractive for collectors. What I like about the coins from San Marino is that most pieces show the three Monte Titano towers and/or three ostrich feathers (which can also be found on the country's CoA), but in lots of different styles. Christian
I wondered if they actually circulated. I noticed they are always in the same size and denomination as the Italian coins of the time, so I wondered if they circulate throughout Italy and are interchangeable.
Kind of complicated. Before the euro cash introduction, the lire coins from San Marino (not the gold scudi though) were also legal tender in Italy, and the Italian coins were legal tender in SM. How many Sanmarinese coins actually circulated ... don't know, as most of them were issued as parts of sets. Today the euro and cent circulation coins (and the €2 commems) from San Marino can be used anywhere in the euro area. The euro collector coins (usually silver/gold) and the scudi pieces, however, are legal tender in San Marino only. And yes, the IPZS in Rome mints all coins for Italy, San Marino and the Vatican. Interesting, by the way, that the very first Sanmarinese coin made according to the monetary convention of 1862 was minted in Milan - at that time, Rome was not part of the Kingdom of Italy yet. In 1939 that convention was "interrupted", and for more than 30 years San Marino could not issue any lira coins. That right came back, so to say, in 1972 ... Christian
