• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Finally made it to Rome

0
ColonialCoinsUK

806 views

During the Napoleonic period Italy was not the single country we know today and as such had multiple, sometimes, short-lived territories each with their own coinage.

The gold 20 and 40 Lire issues were only struck at Milan (mint mark M) with the smaller denominations also being issued by the mints at Bologna and Venice (mint marks B and V), the Italians seem to have had a much greater need than the French for small change - Napoleon only had a single copper issue struck for the French, the 1808BB 5 centimes, so I assume there was enough copper coinage already circulating. These were the main mints for the Kingdom of Italy and I have some examples for each of these. However some Italian mints were under the same authority as the French mints and issued Francs rather than Lire, these were Turin (mint mark U, T was already taken by Nantes!), Genoa (mint mark CL) and Rome (mint mark is a R topped with a crown as Napoleon declared himself the King of Rome). I have had a 1810U gold 20 francs for some time, and this is part of my Registry set, however examples from Rome and Genoa have proven more of a challenge - usually financial :(. So it is great to finally acquire the crowned R mint mark in the form of a 1813Rome gold 20 francs to add to my collection :) I will now have to start saving for the elusive CL.

_France-1813R-G20F-Rcrop.jpg

_France-1813R-G20F-Ocrop.jpg

0



2 Comments


Recommended Comments

Congratulations on your most recent purchase! I always enjoy reading your journals as we collect things from roughly the same era. Our somewhat aligned interests afford me the opportunity to learn something new that compliments the history of the items I collect which I likely would have missed during my normal pursuits. 

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now