Kingdom of Italy

The Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed in 1861, replacing the Kingdom of Sardinia. Unification in the borders of modern-day Italy was completed by 1870, with the end of the Papal States and the annexation of Rome.

Minting of gold coins ended 1912, with a small quality minted in 1926-1927. When minting resumed, the lire was debased and no longer followed the Napoleonic / LMU coinage standard. The briefly minted 1931-1933 gold 50 lire had gold content about 2/3 of the old 20 francs. The 1936-1941 silver 20 lire was 20 grams at 0.9 fine, compared to the old 5 lire at 25 grams at 0.9 fine.

The Kingdom of Italy ended in 1946 with a referendum deciding Italy would become a republic.

Circulation Coins by Ruler

Underlined text links to Numista

Certain images are clickable for more detail

Vittorio Emmanuel II

Vittorio Emmanuel II declared himself King of Italy in 1861. He has coins in three countries: as King of Italy, King of Sardinia, and King of the United Provinces of Central Italy.

100 Lire

1864-1878
(Image: Nomisma May 2019)

50 Lire

1864
(Image: Bolaffi May 2021)

20 Lire

1861-1878
(Image: Nomisma Nov 2022)

10 Lire

1861-1865
(Image: Numismatica Genevensis Nov 2022)

5 Lire

1863-1865
(Image: Nomisma May 2019)

5 Lire

1861-1878
(Image: Nomisma Apr 2023)

Umberto I

Umberto I reigned 1878-1900. He oversaw the establishment of an Italian colony in Eritrea, where several coins were minted with his bust.

20 lire dated 1881 and 1882 are common and remain in high quality, accounting for about 90% of the total Umberto I 20 lire. Minting of these coins is associated with an international bank loan of those years.

100 Lire

1880-1891

50 Lire

1894-1897

20 Lire

1879-1897

5 Lire

1878-1879

2 Lire

1881-1899

1 Lira

1883-1900

50 Centesimi (1/2 lira)

1889-1892

Vittorio Emmanuel III

Vittorio Emmanuel III reigned 1900-1946. He abdicated in 1946 in favor of his son, Umberto II. However, the monarchy was dissolved in a referendum voting in favor of a republic.

Vittorio Emmanuel III was a numismatist himself with a collection of over 100,000 coins. Many of his coins are non-circulating patterns not shown below. Other coins of the 1930s and 1940s were circulating, but not according to the LMU standard.