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150 Lire Banco di Santo Spirito
| Issuer | Banco di Santo Spirito |
|---|---|
| Year | 1976-1977 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse carries a large central guilloche rosette in grey-brown tones built around the bank's coat-of-arms vignette, framed above and below by rectangular panels each bearing the denomination inscription 'VALE 150 LIRE'. At the top, a letterpress endorsement block headed 'GIRATE' identifies the payee as the Unione del Commercio e del Turismo della Provincia di Frosinone, accompanied by a manuscript endorsement signature. A typeset legend across the uppermost margin restricts circulation to Italy. |
| Reverse lettering | IL PRESENTE ASSEGNO PUÒ CIRCOLARE SOLTANTO IN ITALIA GIRATE Unione del Commercio e del Turismo della Provincia di Frosinone VALE 150 LIRE |
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| Comments |
The Banco di Santo Spirito — founded in Rome in 1605 by Pope Paul V, making it one of the oldest banks in Europe — had effectively ceased to function as an independent issuer long before the 1970s. These 150 Lire notes were not bank-issued currency in any meaningful sense but emergency small-denomination substitutes, produced during Italy's chronic coin shortage of the mid-1970s when hoarding of metal coinage left retail transactions without adequate change.
The 150 Lire denomination itself is an artifact of that crisis — an odd figure dictated by practicality, not monetary convention. Officine Carte Valori di Mauro handled a significant share of these Italian "mini-assegni" runs from their Cava de' Tirreni facility.