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| Issuer | Banca Popolare di Novara |
|---|---|
| Year | 1976-1977 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse lettering | GIRATE XXXXXXX XXXXXXX IL PRESENTE ASSEGNO PUÒ CIRCOLARE SOLTANTO IN ITALIA 100 LIRE BANCA POPOLARE DI NOVARA (Translation: Endorsement - This cheque may be circulated only in Italy - 100 Lire - People's Bank of Novara) |
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
Italy's chronic small-change shortage of the mid-1970s produced one of the stranger episodes in postwar European monetary history: commercial banks, cooperatives, and municipalities were permitted to issue fiduciary notes — miniassegni — as substitutes for coins that had effectively vanished from circulation. The Banca Popolare di Novara, a cooperative savings institution founded in 1871, issued this 100 Lire note under that emergency framework, redeemable at face value through the bank's branch network rather than functioning as legal tender in the strict sense.
The watermark is unusually purposeful for a note of this denomination — most miniassegni issuers skipped such security measures entirely, treating the instruments as essentially disposable.