Buy Italian Gold Coins – Kingdom of Italy and Latin Monetary Union Classics
Italy contributes 3 gold products at CelticGold from the Kingdom of Italy era – elegant Savoy-dynasty gold coins that carry both the history of Italian unification and the standardised gold specifications of the Latin Monetary Union (1865). Italian 20-lire gold pieces are among the most aesthetically refined gold coins of the 19th century.
History – The Risorgimento and Italian Gold Coinage
Italian gold coinage was unified after the Risorgimento – the 19th-century movement for Italian political unification. When Victor Emmanuel II became first King of unified Italy in 1861, a standardised Italian currency was established: the lira, with gold 20-lire and 10-lire coins as the primary monetary gold units.
Italy joined the Latin Monetary Union in 1865, making its 20-lire gold pieces (6.4516 g, 900/1,000 = 5.806 g fine gold) interchangeable with French, Belgian and Swiss equivalents. The Kingdom of Italy coins bearing the portraits of Victor Emmanuel II (1861–1878), Umberto I (1878–1900) and Victor Emmanuel III (1900–1946) represent Italian numismatic gold at its most historically significant.
Key Facts
Feature
Detail
Key coins
20 Lire (Victor Emmanuel II, Umberto I, Victor Emmanuel III)
