Romania's post-WWI gold coinage was shaped directly by the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, which awarded Transylvania to Romania and roughly doubled the country's territory and population. Ferdinand I, who had held firm against the Central Powers after Romania's disastrous 1916 campaign, was scheduled for a formal coronation at Alba Iulia — the symbolic heart of unified Romania — in October 1922. This 50 Lei piece was struck specifically as a coronation issue for that ceremony, not for general circulation.
Alba Iulia was chosen deliberately: it was there that the 1918 unification proclamation had been signed.
Romania's post-WWI gold coinage was shaped directly by the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, which awarded Transylvania to Romania and roughly doubled the country's territory and population. Ferdinand I, who had held firm against the Central Powers after Romania's disastrous 1916 campaign, was scheduled for a formal coronation at Alba Iulia — the symbolic heart of unified Romania — in October 1922. This 50 Lei piece was struck specifically as a coronation issue for that ceremony, not for general circulation.
Alba Iulia was chosen deliberately: it was there that the 1918 unification proclamation had been signed.