1879r Italian 5-lire

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A legal tender in other LMU countries such as Belgium, France, and Switzerland, here is a well-worn 1879r 5-lire that began life in Roma under special circumstances:

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The drastic drop in silver prices, mostly a result of Germany and other countries going off a silver standard—and the flood of silver from mines in the American West—caused the Latin Monetary Union to begin limiting the free coinage of silver in 1874, with the LMU agreeing to abandon the coinage of its silver 5-unit pieces in 1878. Italia, however, due to delays caused by the death of Vittorio Emmanuele II that January, obtained special permission from its LMU partners to coin an additional four million pieces of the 5-lire denomination.

These 1879r 5-lire pieces picturing the new Italian King Umberto I comprise the additional mintage, much of which was accomplished using, as I have read, “le piastre borboniche” retired from circulation after Italy’s unification.

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