My local coin shop had a lot of coins from an Italian type set for sale, and I was happy with this pickup: United Provinces of Central Italy, 50 Centesimi, 1860. It's from a transitional period as Italy was uniting, and has Vittorio Emanuele II as "Re Eletto" (king-elect). The price was only about twice melt ($3.75), which I think was probably a bargain for this type. For comparison, here are 2 slightly later 50 centesimi from United Italy, 1863 and 1866. The 50 centesimi from 1860-2 are 0.900 silver, and the ones from 1863-7 are 0.835 fine. Apparently a rising silver price was keeping these coins from circulating at the time. I believe the 1863 with the shield reverse in 0.835 is a single year type. The "50 centesimi" reverse type was also minted starting in 1863, through 1867.
