5000 Lire Europe In The New Millennium

San Marino issued a run of commemorative silver lire in the late 1990s as the currency's end was already certain — the republic had committed to adopting the euro alongside Italy, and the 1999 transition gave these final lire issues an implicit finality their face values never suggested. This piece was struck just fourteen months before the lire became legally fixed to the euro at 1,936.27 lire per unit.