A dealer told me that Italian prova/pattern can only be owned by Italian government but not private collector, is it true?
I couldn't say what may be legal or not in Italy, but the Bowers and Merena auction in Feb 2008 had quite a few Provas to auction: Italy. Over 150 Patterns and Provas of Italy and colonies, Albania, San Marino and Vatican, including a 5 Lire 1914 Prova; a 1936 nine-piece Prova set; a 5 Lire 1940 Prova; Italian Somaliland 10 and 5 Lire 1925 Provas; and San Marino 20 and 10 Lire 1925 gold Provas.
This came up elsewhere some time ago, and somebody posted this link to an Italian forum: http://www.lamoneta.it/index.php?s=&showtopic=32253&view=findpost&p=348888 So I'd say there are two kinds of prova pieces: The pieces listed in the first group can be collected, sold and bought in Italy; those in the second group cannot. Christian
That mean, it has the similar situation as French Essais, part of are for collectors and some are patterns (but not prohibit for private collectors as Italian rules), if i'm not wrong.
