Catalog
ECU Antonio Vivaldi
| Issuer | Italia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1994 |
| Type | Fantasy coin |
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| Obverse description | Bust of Antonio Vivaldi facing three-quarters left, depicted with long curly hair in Baroque style, holding a violin in his right hand with musical notes and a staff engraved in the field to his right. The upper portion of the coin bears a blue enamel band adorned with twelve five-pointed stars representing the European Community, with the legend ITALIA incuse in bold raised letters arching across the upper field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Italy's ECU-denominated issues of the early 1990s were never legal tender — they were produced specifically for the collector market ahead of European monetary unification, trading on prestige rather than purchasing power. Vivaldi was selected as part of a broader cultural series that leaned heavily on composers and artists to make the case for Italy's centrality to European civilization, a soft-power argument dressed up as numismatics.
Vivaldi died in Vienna in 1741, largely forgotten and nearly bankrupt, having sold manuscripts to fund his final journey north.