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1 Lira Vittoria
| Issuer | Campo Concentramento Prigionieri di Guerra, Vittoria (Sicilia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1918 |
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| Currency | Lira (1861-2001) |
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| Obverse description | Allegorical female figure in classical armour seated at left, holding a staff with flag and a sword, set against an ornate guilloche border with numeral "1" repeated in each corner. Central text panel carries the denomination and camp identification; two manuscript signatures appear below the printed title lines of the commanding officers. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Bird's-eye vignette of the Vittoria prisoner-of-war camp compound occupies the upper portion, rendered in blue letterpress. Lower left bears the municipal coat of arms of Vittoria with an eagle and mural crown; centre carries an ornamental cartouche with the anti-counterfeiting legend; denomination numeral "1" in a decorative frame at lower right. |
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| Comments |
Vittoria is a small agricultural town in the Ragusa province of southeastern Sicily — an unlikely home for a prisoner of war camp, but one of dozens of Italian internment facilities that issued their own scrip during the First World War to keep foreign currency out of civilian hands. The camp authorities at Vittoria contracted Lit. G. Marchese e Figli in Turin for the printing, meaning these notes traveled the length of the Italian peninsula before reaching the men they were issued to.
POW camp scrip from Italian facilities is genuinely uncommon in any grade. Most was redeemed or destroyed at repatriation, and what survived did so largely by accident.