u/Redaktor-Naczelny

The very last silver 5 Lire crown with the second Italian King Humbert I. The Latin Monetary Union banned the 5 Francs coins, allowing only the issue of smaller denominations in silver.

The next King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III was a coin collector so he tried three times to get his own 5 Lire. The first attempt in 1901 was blocked and only few coins survived. The second was successful but the anniversary 5 Lire of 1911 is madly expensive. The 1914 issue was stopped by the outbreak of the war although some coins apparently reached the market. None of them is within my budget and there are too many counterfeits.

Victor Emmanuel II replaced his father on the throne unexpectedly in 1849. He wisely picked up his mantle and made the unification of Italy his aim for life. This is his first 5 Lire struck at the Genova mint.

Eleven years later another 5 Lire coin struck in March 1861 in Florence celebrated the reunification of Italy with Victor Emmanuel II as her first King.

1848 was a good year for King Charles Albert. He granted the first Italian constitution - which remained in force for 98 years - and the war against Austria went surprisingly well. A few months later, unhappy with the terms of the armistice the King broke it and within a week he was a former King on his way to Portugal where he died four months later.

The Kingdom of Sardinia attempted to return to the old scudo after the fall of Napoleon and three denominations in the currency were issued in 1814 and 1815. However, ultimately even the most conservative King Victor Emmanuel I had to accept the reality and in August 1816 the scudo was replaced by the Sardinian lira which was actually franc Germinal that had circulated in the Kingdom since 1800. Either he was not convinced of the idea or there was no money but his coins are few, far between, and expensive.

It was his brother Charles Felix who started to issue a full range of denominations from 1 centesimo to 80 lire. His successors, Charles Albert and Victor Emmanuel II, issued only silver and gold coins. This is 5 lire of Charles Felix struck in Genova.

The Anhalt principalities were divided among the five sons of Joachim Ernest in 1603. It took 260 years for four of the branches of the family to die out and in 1863 the Dessau line became the only one. Prince Leopold IV Frederick celebrated the event with this Vereinsthaler.

You have already seen Dessau and Bernburg so the additional pictures show the castle in Kothen (well known to fans of Johann Sebastian Bach) as the Anhalt-Kothen line died out in 1847 before the introduction of the Vereinsthalers, and the most precious object in the collection of the local museum - double gulden struck in gold made by the court alchemist of Prince August of Anhalt-Plotzkau, one of three in existence.

The Kingdom of Etruria was Napoleon's "upgrade" of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany which he handed over to the Bourbons he had kicked out of Parma. The state ceased to exist in 1807 when Tuscany was taken over by France while Napoleon's sister Elisa became the Grand Duchess. This coin, however, was revived in 1825 and restruck with frozen date for twenty more years under the new Grand Duke Leopold II. The second King of Etruria - officially he was Louis II but he is called here Charles Louis - is shown with his mother, the regent. Almost 40 grams of silver!

The wet dream of the 19th century silver stackers. Originally issued for Charles Louis, the second King of Etruria (a short-lived state created by Emperor Napoleon out of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany) and valued at 10 Florentine Lira, it was revived for stackers in 1825 and struck with frozen date for twenty years. 37.790 grams of pure silver. At least 1.2 million were made in the period so not a major rarity but tends to be rather expensive.

The circulation issues of the new King of Denmark are out now. Here is the 20 kroner.

Finally! I have my first regular coin of the new Danish king Frederik X!

Elisa Bonaparte era Granduchesa di Toscana

A series of four stamps commemorating the centenary of postage stamp was prepared by independent Estonia but it was issued two weeks after the Soviet invasion in June 1940, in a brief period before Estonia became a Soviet republic on 6 August 1940. The four stamps were issued perforated but the 15 senti stamp somehow reached the market unperforated as well.

Poland regained independence in November 1918. The state had been partitioned in the late 18th century and now it had to be reunited. Gradually, multiple circulating currencies were limited to one - the Polish Mark first introduced by Germany when they conquered the Russian part in 1915.

The economy of Poland was weak and by the end of 1922 the Mark started losing value very fast. The inflation was under control by the Spring of 1924 and the decision was made to replace the Mark with a new currency - Polish Złoty. The authorities wanted a strong and stable currency so they opted for Swiss Franc as the model.

The new Złoty was worth 1,800,000 Marks and the 1 and 2 Złoty coins were struck almost according to the LMU standard as it 0.750 silver instead of 0.835. Some of them even in Paris.

Unfortunately, the new currency did not keep the value for long - thanks, Germany - and even before the Great Depression a new nickel 1 złoty coin replaced the silver one while the first silver coins were quickly demonetized and melted for the new lighter ones. As the design was very delicate and most were destroyed, they are quite rare and expensive now, particularly in higher grades, regardless of the impressive original mintage.

Napoleon took the Duchy of Parma from the local Bourbons but as he wanted Spain as an ally against the British he chose to recompense them with Tuscany which he took from the Habsburgs at the same time. In 1801, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany became the Kingdom of Etruria (sounds surprising but the name had been used in the Latin titles before) and made the former heir to the throne of Parma the new King while Ferdinand III of Tuscany had to move to Salzburg.

As Louis I was also the son-in-law of the King of Spain it seemed a perfect solution. However, Louis I suffered from epilepsy and passed away after two years on the throne, before turning thirty, leaving it to his four year old son who reigned as Louis II.

This Francescone was restruck again and again in the first quarter of the 19th century as it proved quite popular so regardless of the official (i.e. original) mintages it is quite easy to find. Usually, quite well worn as it was demonetized only in 1860.

Emperor Francis was Maria Theresa's husband, the Holy Roman Emperor, and the Grand Duke of Tuscany. One of the new developments which came with the Grand Duke was a new coin called Francescone and worth 10 Paoli or half gold Zecchino, almost 25 grams of pure silver. The first one was struck in 1747, the last in 1859. Then Tuscany joined the united Italy.

The Grand Duchy of Oldenburg was located in the North-West of Germany, separated from the Netherlands by a stretch of land which belonged to Hannover. The Grand Duke Nicolas Frederick Peter wisely sided with Prussia in 1866 and his Duchy was spared, he also expanded it a little after giving up his pretences to the Duchy of Holstein.

This is the only Vereinsthaler issued by the Grand Duchy also in 1858 and 1866. The Grand Duke issued only 2 Marks and 10 Marks in the new currency. His son, Grand Duke Frederick August followed with 2 and 5 Marks issued in 1900 and 1901, and the Oldenburg coinage ended.

It is one of two Vereinsthalers issued by German states I have not visited yet. If you have some nice pictures from Oldenburg, please, share them in the comments below!

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg gained independence in 1839 in personal union with the Netherlands. Their choice of currency was, surprisingly enough, Belgian franc, equal to franc Germinal. In 1852 the striking of the national currency was decided, but it was only in 1854 that the coins were actually struck. The series included 2 1/2, 5, and 10 centimes. No other denominations were produced till 1916. When Belgium joined the LMU this coin not only remained in circulation but it was issued again in 1870, 1901, and 1908 while the other denominations were replaced in 1901 with smaller cupronickel coins featuring portraits of the Grand Dukes.

Greece joined the Latin Monetary Union and started issuing new coins according to the LMU standard in 1868. In 1875, the series was completed with this 5 Drachmae crown showing a more mature portrait of King George I who ascended to the throne at the age of seventeen. It was reissued in the following year and this was the end of Greek circulating silver crowns.