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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;icecube, post: 801812, member: 22754&quot;]<b>Great Historical Italian Coins!</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Great historical coins! I&#039;ve always had an interest in Italian coinage and history, and while monetarily speaking they aren&#039;t anything extraordinary, they&#039;re certainly valuable in terms of historic and collector appeal.</p><p><br /></p><p>The King on the 1942 coin is Vittorio Emmanuel III, (who was something of a coin enthusiast himself considering he had published many volumes on post roman empire Italian coins), ascended the throne in 1900 after the most unfortunate assassination of his father Umberto by anarchists. Vittorio was a staunch constitutionalist and generally loved by his people although he was not much enamored of Italian civics plagued by often chronic political instabilities. </p><p><br /></p><p>If I may digress for a moment I&#039;d like to take this opportunity to tell a strange story about King Umberto, (Vittorio&#039;s Father) that many people have probably never heard. </p><p><br /></p><p>In July 1900 King Umberto I had traveled to the Town of Monza to award contestants of an athletic event taking place there. He opted to stay at a small inn where the innkeeper choose to personally serve him. </p><p><br /></p><p>The first thing the King noticed was that this fellow looked almost exactly like him and upon inquiring he learned that they both had the same first name. As the conversation ensued the King learned that their lives were intertwined in a series of incredible coincidences. </p><p><br /></p><p>The innkeeper had opened his inn the same day the Umberto was crowned king. They both had sons named Vittorio. They were both married on the same day to women both named Margherita. They were not only both born on the same day but in the same city! Both men had served in the army and had twice received medals for bravery on the same day!&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>The King was so impressed by all this that he invited the innkeeper to the ceremonies the following day to give him a special award. &quot;The Most Like the King Award?&quot;, I don&#039;t know exactly, but if you think the story is strange up to this point read on..</p><p><br /></p><p>On the day of the ceremony the King inquired why the Innkeeper had failed to arrive and was told that he had been killed in a tragic hunting accident. The King was obviously distressed by the news and was just saying that he wished to attend the innkeeper&#039;s funeral when he was attacked by an anarchist with a pistol and killed instantly. So, unfortunately the last in this amazing string of coincidences is that both men died on the same day as well. </p><p><br /></p><p>Really weird.. Has anyone else heard this story?</p><p><br /></p><p>Ok, sorry about that, now back to the coins..</p><p><br /></p><p>Your 1940 Lire is a stainless steel (iron, nickel, chromium and vanadium) coin with a mintage of about 26 million. (Not completely sure about the mintage). You could probably fetch a few bucks for it. Personally I&#039;d just keep it.</p><p><br /></p><p>The fasces are a symbol that comes down to us from ancient Rome that symbolizes the imperial power of the magistrate. The eagle has always been a symbol of strength, farsightedness, and courage. In 102 BC Consul Marius decreed the eagle as the symbol of Senatus Populusque Romanus (&quot;The Senate and the People of Rome&quot;).</p><p><br /></p><p>These Centesimi coins (apart from the 1929 coin), were modeled be G. Romagnoli and engraved by Pietro Giampaoli. They should have a reeded edge and the &quot;R&quot; (Minted in Rome) designation. The&nbsp; &quot;XIX&quot; is the year of the fascist era. I believe these are magnetic coins, meaning that because of their composition, (iron alloy, nickel, chromium and vanadium) they can be picked up by a magnet.</p><p><br /></p><p>The 1929 10 Centesimi is a bronze flat edged coin minted in Rome. If you&#039;re interested in value this may be worth more than the others simply because of it&#039;s age although I can&#039;t speak for it&#039;s condition. Again, it&#039;s not worth a fortune, (<i>maybe</i> 5 to 8 dollars for a circulated coin), but it&#039;s a nice coin to have in your collection.</p><p><br /></p><p>Once again these coins are of interest to collectors but I can&#039;t tell you they&#039;re worth a lot of money, (If I&#039;m wrong about this or anything else in this reply someone <i>please</i> correct me). Uncirculated versions would of course be worth more.</p><p><br /></p><p>If I were you I&#039;d hang on to them, they&#039;re neat coins to have.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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