10 000 Lire Volta

The Volta series ran for fourteen years — an unusually long active lifespan for a modern Italian banknote — which means examples from early in the print run circulated heavily and are genuinely worn, while later dates are far easier to find in high grade. Alessandro Volta's connection to the denomination is deliberate: the 10,000 lire was Italy's workhorse note through the 1980s and 1990s, and pairing it with the discoverer of electrochemical energy was a conscious nod to Italian scientific prestige during a period of aggressive industrial rebranding.

Canfarini's intaglio work on the obverse is among the finer examples of Italian engraving from this period — the Istituto Poligrafico tradition at its most controlled.