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2 Lire
| Issuer | Banca Toscana di Anticipazioni e Sconto |
|---|---|
| Year | 1870 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 2 Lire |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in black on cream paper and carries a left-facing intaglio portrait vignette of a laurel-crowned figure, likely Dante Alighieri, occupying the left third of the note. The bank title BANCA TOSCANA DI ANTICIPAZIONI E SCONTO appears in bold letterpress at upper centre, below which the authorisation legend reads Approvata con R. Decreto 24 Aprile 1870, followed by the denomination panel BONO DI CASSA DA LIRE DUE in a shaded cartouche. A red circular dry-stamp of the Sede in Firenze (Florence branch) is applied over the manuscript signatures of the President and Cashier, with a red serial number at lower left; the entire design is enclosed within a fine guilloche border repeating the denomination. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | LIRE DUE LIRE DUE LIRE DUE 2 LIRE 2 I BONI SI RICEVONO IN PAGAMENTO PER QUALSIASI SOMMA E TITOLO E SI CAMBIANO IN VALUTA LEGALE QUANDO SIANO PRESENTATI PEL VALORE DI LIRE 50, 100, 250, 500 E 1000 LIT. G. THUMB, BOLOGNA |
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| Comments |
The Banca Toscana di Anticipazioni e Sconto was one of several regional Italian credit institutions operating in the fractious years immediately following unification, when the newly consolidated state had not yet imposed a single monetary framework on its constituent territories. Small-denomination notes like this 2 Lire filled a genuine gap — coin shortages were endemic throughout the 1860s and early 1870s, and minor banks stepped in where the larger issuing banks saw no profit.
Litografia Thumb in Bologna was a commercial lithographic house, not a specialist banknote security printer. The dry stamp was the primary fraud deterrent — embossed directly into the paper without ink, it required physical contact with an official die and could not be reproduced photographically.