Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
10 Lire Allied Military Currency
| Issuer | Allied Military Authority |
|---|---|
| Year | 1943 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 10 Lire (10 ITL) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Brown note with black border frame; denomination numeral 10 in each corner with a large central guilloché underprint. Inscriptions in black with serial number printed in red. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Light turquoise underprint with the central inscription panel enclosed in a rectangle, flanked by radiating ray patterns above and below. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Allied Military Currency for Italy was authorized under Allied Force Headquarters and rolled out ahead of the Sicily landings in July 1943. The notes were deliberately backed by nothing — the U.S. Treasury refused to guarantee them, and Britain's objections to that arrangement caused a genuine diplomatic row that dragged on well after the campaign ended. Italy was effectively being asked to absorb an unbacked occupation currency at par with the lira.
Forbes Lithograph produced the AM lire under contract using a simplified lithographic process suited to mass wartime output. The 10 Lire denomination, along with the rest of the series, was later blamed by Italian economists for contributing directly to the postwar inflation that destabilized the lira through 1947.