Catalog
1 Leu - Carol I
| Issuer | Romania |
|---|---|
| Year | 1881 |
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| Value | 1 Leu |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The elaborate Romanian royal coat of arms occupies the central field, featuring a quartered shield supported by two rampant lions holding the mantle, surmounted by a princely crown. A scroll banner with the motto NIHIL SINE DEO appears below the shield. The denomination numeral 1 is positioned to the left of the arms and the letter L to the right, while the legend ROMANIA arcs across the upper field. The date 1881 is displayed in the lower exergue, with the Vienna mint mark V to the lower left, all enclosed within a beaded border. |
| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
1881 marks the year Romania formally proclaimed itself a kingdom, with Carol I crowned as its first monarch following independence from Ottoman suzerainty recognized at the Congress of Berlin in 1878. This coin entered circulation in the kingdom's inaugural year — not a commemorative issue, but ordinary currency produced at the Brussels mint, which had struck Romanian coinage since the 1860s when the country lacked domestic minting infrastructure.
The .835 fineness matches the Latin Monetary Union standard Romania had aligned with, though the country never formally joined the union.