Low Mintage

Sale: CNG 76, Lot: 1816. Estimate $750.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 12 September 2007.  Sold For $1300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ITALY, Lombardia. Governo Provvisorio. 1848. AV 20 Lire (6.39 g, 6h). Milan mint. Dated 1848. 20 / LIRE / ITALIANE in three lines, all within laurel branches, 1848 below / Personification of Italia standing facing, head right, holding spear and raising left hand, star above. CNI V 2; KM 23; Friedberg 475. VF, nicely toned. 4,593 struck.

From Collection C.G. Ex Stack’s (4 December 2001), lot 711.

After Napoleon’s defeat, the northern Italian provinces of Lombardy and Venetia were given to Austria at the Congress of Vienna (1815). These areas, which had been held previously by the Austrian Habsburgs, became known as the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. On 22 March 1848, the people of Milan revolted against the Austrians and founded their own provisional government (Governo Provvisorio della Lombardia). Following suit, Venice declared its independence the next day, expelling the Austrians and forming a new government. Despite the success of the Italians in driving out the Austrians, the independence did not last. Just one year later, Austria regained its lost territory.