Italy 1804 1/2 soldo KM-Pn15
This specimen was lot 1635 in Stephen Album sale 41 (Santa Rosa, CA, September 2021), where it sold for $900. The catalog description[1] noted, "REPUBLIC OF ITALY: Napoleon, President, 1802-1805, AE ½ soldo (5 denari), Milan, 1804 year III, a wonderful quality red lustrous example of this scarce pattern type! PCGS graded Specimen 65 BN, S. The Italian Republic was a short-lived republic from 1802-1805 located in Northern Italy. Napoleon Bonaparte served as president and its capital was Milan." After Napoleon conquered and looted northern Italy in 1796-97, he created the Cisalpine Republic, merging the former states of Milan, Mantua, Modena and Bologna (the northern part of the Papal State). Austria, which had lost Milan, was bought off with the republic of Venice. It was renamed the Italian Republic in 1802, and a series of patterns was struck in 1804. It was converted into the kingdom of Italy in 1805 and lasted until 1814. Napoleon added to the kingdom Venetia, Bellinzona, Lucca and Dalmatia, while Genoa, Parma and Piedmont were directly annexed to France. His stepson, Eugene de Beauharnais, was viceroy.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: copper.
Catalog reference: KM-Pn15.
- Gigante, Fabio, Gigante 2016: Catalogo Nazionale delle Monete Italiano Dal '700 All'Euro, 24a ed. Varese, Italy, 2015.
- Montenegro, Eupremio, Montenegro 2015: Manuale del Collezionista di Monete Italiane, 30 ed., Torino, Italy: Montenegro s.a.s., 2014.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 41, featuring the Dick Nanta Collection of Giray Khans, Part II, the Charles Opitz Collection of Ethnographic Money, Part II, and the Allan F. Pacela Collection of Chinese Coins. Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2021.
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