100 Lire Allied Military Currency

Allied Military Currency for Italy was produced under a joint Anglo-American arrangement, with the U.S. Treasury and the British government sharing production costs — and, as it turned out, considerable blame. The Soviet Union, having been refused plates by Washington, later counterfeited the series extensively, a decision that contributed to postwar inflation in occupied Italy and triggered a prolonged diplomatic dispute between the Allies.

Forbes Lithograph in Boston produced this denomination by offset, a faster but less secure method than intaglio. Italian authorities resented the entire AMC program; the Bank of Italy was explicitly excluded from the printing arrangements, and the notes were legal tender by military decree alone.