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50 Lire
| Issuer | Unione dei Commercianti di Prato e Mandamento |
|---|---|
| Year | 1975 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Lire (50 ITL) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | UNIONE DEI COMMERCIANTI DI PRATO E MANDAMENTO Via S.Trinita, 27 BUONO D'ACQUISTO VALIDO FINO AL 31 DICEMBRE 1975 Serie C |
| Reverse description | Pale yellow ground with a fine crosshatch underprint and a Greek-key guilloche border in brown. The left two-thirds present a detailed line-engraved vignette of a three-storey Renaissance palazzo facade. To the right, bold letterpress reads 'VALE LIRE' above a light-blue guilloche rosette enclosing the numeral '50'. |
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| Comments |
In the early 1970s, Italy suffered a severe shortage of small-denomination coins — the so-called "crisi degli spiccioli" — that prompted businesses, transit companies, and local merchant associations across the country to issue their own improvised substitutes. Prato's merchant union was one of dozens of such bodies to fill the gap with emergency fiduciary notes, redeemable in theory at participating shops but functionally treated as cash by a public that had no alternative.
These local emission notes were never legal tender and existed in a regulatory grey zone until the Banca d'Italia moved to suppress them from 1976 onward. The Prato series was printed locally, which accounts for the relatively modest production quality compared to issues from larger northern commercial chambers.