There are many stories of rare coins found by chance at home and sold for thousands of euros. In particular, the old Italian lire, in particular conditions, can be worth a fortune. Here are some examples you could try to look for at home.
With the transition from the Italian Lira to the Euro in 2002 there are not a few who have kept, for personal memory or other reasons, some coins of the old coinage, and with hindsight it can be said that it was an investment. This is not always the case, but some old coins that could once have been used for ice cream or pizza can now be worth thousands of euros. The coin we will talk about today is called among collectors “100 lire Minerva”. As you can imagine, it is a coin with a nominal value of 100 lire, minted in Acmonital between 1955 and 1989, has a diameter of 27.8 millimeters, a weight of 8 grams and a thickness of 2 millimeters. On the obverse the coin has a head of Italy with a laurel wreath, on the reverse, however, Minerva is represented with a spear in her hand.
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The value of the coins changes according to theuniqueness of the coin itself, if it has a particularly rare coinage, or, even better, minting errors, and its degree of conservation. In numismatics they exist specific abbreviations to indicate the state of conservation of the coins:
- FDC: Brilliant Uncirculated, or coins that show no signs of circulation or in any case very limited, preserved in the best way with the original brilliance on the surfaces;
- SPL: Gorgeous, that is coins that have circulated very little, with intact reliefs;
- BB: Beautiful, that is coins that have circulated and have greater reliefs with signs of wear, even if they remain legible;
- MB: Very nice, or coins worn with some parts not legible;
- B: Nice, or smooth coins with most of the reliefs disappeared;
- D: Fair, that is, almost completely smooth coins with barely perceptible reliefs or with disfiguring signs
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Knowing this, the 1954 100 lire Minerva proof coin is by far the highest value of all coins of the same type. As a test coin, very few examples have been minted and today one of these coins in Brilliant quality can be worth up to 3,000 euros.
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