Chances are you are familiar with Christopher Columbus, you know, that guy that first stepped foot on the Americas. After the vikings that is.
But did you know Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria? No, they are not any famous hookers from back then.
Those are the names of the three ships he used in his expedition. And today's silver piece is dedicated to them.
A 500 Lire coin from Italy, that I believe was minted in 1959.
Silver coins featuring old ships are amongst my favorite as they give pirate like vibes. Almost like a real treasure 🦜🦜🦜
Not much else on this side other than the denomination and REPVBBLICA ITALIANA for Republic of Italy, so let's turn it to the other side
Here we have a really interesting and complex engraving. A woman in a renaissance dress, representing Italy, surrounded by 19 shields. My coin is a bit beat up so some of them are not in the best shape:
Genova, Torino, Aosta, Milano, Trento, Venezia, Trieste, Udine, Bologna, Firenze, Ancona, Perugia, Roma, L'Aquila, Napoli, Bari, Potenza, Catanzaro, Palermo, Cagliari. The last two are hidden behind the bust, below the name of the engraver. source
Here's a cleaner image of how the coin is supposed to look like with all the flags and shit:
Moving on to the edge, we once again have "REPVBBLICA ITALIANA" and the minting date engraved:
Looks like 1959 to me :)
These coins were minted from 1958 to 2001 and are made of 11 grams of 0.835 silver each. As always, a size comparison with some modern Monopoly money
Btw, speaking of Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, did you know those were not actually their original names?
They were likely given new names just prior to Columbus' voyage. Historians are not entirely sure what the original names of the ships were, but it is believed that they may have been the La Gallega, the La Pinta, and the Santa Clara. (via chatgbt)
Ok, I hope you enjoyed today's post and maybe even learnt something new. I think I will be posting something more precious and more shiny in a few days! Or maybe not. We will see 🤔