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1 Lira
| Issuer | Kingdom of Italy |
|---|---|
| Year | 1881-1882 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | P#10 |
| Obverse description | At right, a large numeral '1' within a circle printed in light red-brown serves as an underprint, while a matching ocher guilloche circle at left repeats the denomination in transparency beneath the central text block. A decorative ocher vignette at center reinforces the underprint layer behind the black letterpress text, which carries the denomination 'UNA LIRA' in multiple styles and positions. Series numbers appear at upper left and lower right, with serial numbers at upper right and lower left. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | At left, a vignette of Italia Turrita in profile facing right, rendered in light red-brown. At right, an encircled panel carries the legal anti-counterfeiting text. Interlaced knot-work ornaments frame the composition throughout, all in light red-brown, with the repeated denomination '1 Lira' reserved in white against the background. |
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| Comments |
Italy's earliest small-denomination treasury notes — the "biglietti di Stato" — were introduced in the early 1880s partly to replace worn fractional coinage that had effectively vanished from circulation, hoarded or exported as the silver content outpaced face value. The 1 Lira addressed a genuine transactional gap at the lowest end of everyday commerce.
The Officina Carte Valori at San Teodoro was the Italian state's own security printing facility, established to reduce foreign printing dependency — a politically sensitive issue for a kingdom barely two decades old. P#10 is among the first outputs from that domestic capability at this denomination.