Sardinia, 5 Centesimi, Very Fine

These silver 5 lire coins were struck over an 11-year period from 1926 and are almost the size of an old UK shilling. The obverse shows the head of Vittorio Emanuele III facing left, while the reverse has an eagle holding a Fascio Littorio in its claws. Also known as a “fasces”, it was a symbol of power in the old Etruscan civilisation and then Ancient Rome, but was later adopted by Mussolini’s Fascist Party, which had established itself in power at this time. We have a number of these coins available in Very Fine condition.

Italy 1 lira 1944 P29 Tiny Pink brown on cream/ Cameo portrait at lUnc

It happened in 1940 that Mussolini declared war on Great Britain; he sided with Hitler and the Japanese and decided he was going to win and take us over. We guess he didn’t win. On this large nickel coin, you have the head of Victor Emanuele III and on the other side, you have an eagle with his wings full spread and an axe behind him. You just don’t get many coins from Italy issued during World War II, especially from the year they declared war on us. We shan’t make jokes about the Italian armed forces, after all, a lot of people died in the battles with them. The coin is large and in Extremely Fine condition and we think it was a fantastic find. We are going to use them in our World War II Remembered Collection that will be coming out later this year. This coin is too important to wait for it, you can own it now.