5 Lire - Victor Emmanuel III

Italy's 5 Lire had been absent from circulation for nearly two decades before this 1901 issue revived it. The denomination was suspended in 1879 as the Latin Monetary Union struggled with silver depreciation, and its return under Victor Emmanuel III — who had ascended the throne just months earlier following his father's assassination at Monza — marked both a monetary and political reset. The new king was 31 years old and the coin was the first major silver issue struck in his name.

The Rome mint produced this type for only a handful of years before the economics of silver made large-denomination coinage impractical again.