100 Lire The sea today

San Marino's annual coin programs of the late 1990s were issued under a standing agreement with Italy that permitted the republic to produce collectible series in excess of its nominal circulation needs — a fiscal arrangement that effectively made the mint a revenue source for one of Europe's smallest states. This particular issue belongs to a themed environmental series; by 1999, San Marino had been running topical commemorative programs for over two decades with little interruption.

KM#392 sees very limited secondary market activity, which reflects mintage figures kept deliberately modest to sustain collector demand rather than any historical scarcity.