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150 Lire Banca Industriale Gallaratese
| Issuer | Banca Industriale Gallaratese S.p.A. |
|---|---|
| Year | 1976-1977 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Plain white paper ground with a light guilloche underprint in blue-pink tones. The upper left carries the triangular 'BIG' logotype alongside the full bank name 'BANCA INDUSTRIALE GALLARATESE' and corporate details including registered capital and tribunal reference; the denomination '150 LIRE' appears in a ruled cartouche at upper right. The central text field states the promise to pay at sight ('pagherà a vista per questo assegno circolare'), the amount in words 'CENTOCINQUANTA' flanked by asterisks, the beneficiary 'ASSOCIAZIONE ARTIGIANI DELLA PROVINCIA DI VARESE', the serial number, the issue date 'Gallarate, 1-12-1976', and an authorising manuscript signature beneath the bank name. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | GIRATE ASSOCIAZIONE ARTIGIANI DELLA PROVINCIA DI VARESE IL PRESIDENTE (Comm. Giannino Turri) 150 LIRE IL PRESENTE ASSEGNO PUO CIRCOLARE SOLO IN ITALIA |
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| Comments |
These small-denomination notes were issued by a regional industrial bank based in Gallarate, in the Varese province of Lombardy, during Italy's acute coin shortage of the mid-1970s. The shortage was severe enough that municipalities, banks, transport companies, and retailers all resorted to issuing their own fiduciary substitute tokens and mini-assegni — essentially private scrip — to fill the gap left by disappearing metal coinage. The Banca di Italia tolerated the practice rather than endorsed it.
The legality of these emissions was always ambiguous. Most were never formally authorized under Italian banking law, and the practice was eventually curtailed by 1979.