Italy 1878-R 5 lire Dav-141
This specimen was lot 42431 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2023), where it sold for $264. The catalog description[1] noted, "ITALY. 5 Lire, 1878-R. Rome Mint. Umberto I. NGC EF Details--Cleaned." This type was struck at the Rome mint 1878-79 during the reign of Umberto I of Italy. It is struck to the same standard as the contemporary French five francs. It is quite scarce despite the massive mintage; the 1878 is rare. The denomination was terminated in 1879 when its legal tender provision was revoked in the Latin Monetary Union. Several countries, including Italy, were striking large numbers of silver crowns (worth about three francs in bullion) and redeeming them in France for five francs in gold.
Recorded mintage: 100,000.
Specification: 25 g, 0.900 fine silver, 37 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: Dav-141; KM-20.
- Davenport, John S., European Crowns and Talers, Since 1800, 2nd Ed., London: Spink & Son, 1964.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- 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.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, The January 2023 NYINC Auction: Ancient Coins, World Coins & Paper Money, featuring the Taraszka Collection and the Mark and Dottie Salton Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2022.
Link to: