Comments on "The Coinage of Fascist Italy"

[<k>]

Umberto II, 1946. 

This one was advertised as a 20 lire medal.

A medal with a denomination? Surely that makes it a fantasy? Definitely not a coin.

[chrisild]

Not sure what that is.   This page shows various coin projects from the short time - six weeks or so - when Umberto was king of Italy. The test pieces in the upper part were made in those days, apparently according to some royal decrees. Those designs were later used for the first series of the republic, except the country name was changed from ITALIA to REPUBBLICA ITALIANA.

The pieces in the lower part ("Medaglie" "Progetti"), including the design you show here, may have been private ideas. At the bottom of the page there is a letter from May 1982 that the "Royal House" (Umberto II was still alive then, and still considered himself to be the king) sent to an editor of a numismatic magazine; CN is the Cronaca Numismatica. It states that no coins in his name and with his effigy were issued - which does not really answer the "fantasy or not" question ...

Christian

[<k>]

Thank you, Christian. I think the ex-king would have known about any official coins. Therefore the question simply remains, are the pieces shown medals, or are they fantasies? Either way, they are presumably not official products and most definitely not coins.