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2 Lire - Victor Emmanuel II
| Issuer | Kingdom of Italy |
|---|---|
| Year | 1861-1862 |
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| Composition | Silver (.900) |
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| Obverse description | Bare-headed right-facing effigy of King Vittorio Emanuele II, rendered in high relief with finely detailed portraiture. The truncation of the neck bears the engraver's signature FERRARIS. The encircling legend reads VITTORIO EMANUELE II, with the date below the bust. The overall style is consistent with mid-19th century Italian medallic art. |
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
The 2 Lire of 1861–62 belongs to the first coinage of a unified Italian kingdom — a state that had not legally existed twelve months prior. Cavour died in June 1861 before the monetary system he helped architect was fully operational, leaving the newly appointed mint authorities scrambling to rationalize the competing coinages of Sardinia, the Two Sicilies, Lombardy, and the Papal territories into a single decimal framework. The Latin Monetary Union, which Italy would formally join in 1865, was already shaping the specifications chosen here.
Striking occurred at Turin and Florence. The two mints produced noticeably different surface qualities, with Florence issues generally showing softer detail in the fields.