Italian coin from 1943 - Mussolini
 

Em segunda-feira, 15 de fevereiro de 1999 05h00min00s UTC-3, Don escreveu:
Hi all,

Could anyone help me here please. I was cleaning out a cupboard and I found
a Lire 20 coin with Mussolini's profile on it, and an inscription in Italian
"Meglio vivere un giorno da leone che cento anni da pecora". The coin is
dated MCMXLIII (the year he was killed).

It has been put into a sort of clasp so that it can be worn as a pendant.
Does anyone know what it might be worth, if anything ?

TIA

Donal Carey

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++
That medal/coin was struck in brass, silver and gold. It is something a commemorative coin. Mussolini was killed in 1945, not 1943. In 1943 he was ousted from power and imprisioned by order of the king.
Italy signed a separate armistice with the Allied Sept. 08, 1943.
Otto Skorzeny and his commandos rescued Mussolini and brought to Hitler who ordered him free.
Later Mussolini organised the new Fascist Party and kept fighting in northern Italy to the moment he was caught and executed by italian communist partisans while trying to escape.
The medal/coin is worth something around 20 to 60 US$ if brass or silver. Don't know about gold.

Italian coin from 1943 - Mussolini
 

wrote:
Em segunda-feira, 15 de fevereiro de 1999 05h00min00s UTC-3, Don escreveu:
Hi all,

Could anyone help me here please. I was cleaning out a cupboard and I found
a Lire 20 coin with Mussolini's profile on it, and an inscription in Italian
"Meglio vivere un giorno da leone che cento anni da pecora". The coin is
dated MCMXLIII (the year he was killed).

It has been put into a sort of clasp so that it can be worn as a pendant.
Does anyone know what it might be worth, if anything ?

TIA

Donal Carey

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++
That medal/coin was struck in brass, silver and gold. It is something a
commemorative coin. Mussolini was killed in 1945, not 1943. In 1943 he
was ousted from power and imprisioned by order of the king.
Italy signed a separate armistice with the Allied Sept. 08, 1943.
Otto Skorzeny and his commandos rescued Mussolini and brought to Hitler
who ordered him free.
Later Mussolini organised the new Fascist Party and kept fighting in
northerner Italy to the moment he was caught and executed by italian
communist partisans while trying to escape.
The medal/coin is worth something around 20 to 60 US$ if brass or silver.
Don't know about gold.

It was also made in silver colored base metal to sell to the tourists. It
can often be found for a few dollars. There is NO OFFICIAL coin with the
bust of Mussolini on it, all are fantasies