2 Lire Threat of Nuclear War

San Marino issued this piece as part of its 1983 anti-nuclear themed series, released at a moment when Cold War tensions had spiked sharply — NATO's deployment of Pershing II missiles in Western Europe and the Soviet walkout from arms reduction talks in Geneva made 1983 arguably the most dangerous year of the post-Cuban Missile Crisis period. The Able Archer 83 military exercise that November nearly convinced Soviet leadership that a Western first strike was imminent.

San Marino used its coinage program aggressively throughout the 1980s to take political stances its size prevented it from asserting through diplomacy. Low face value and aluminium construction meant these circulated freely alongside Italian coinage under the existing monetary agreement.