Description and research notes
Specimen of the 30 Lire issue from the Credito Agricolo di Bologna, produced by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. during the consolidation years of Italian unification. The denomination itself—30 Lire—is highly unusual and appears linked to agricultural credit schemes and rural cooperative lending. As a specimen, it carries no signatures or overprints, but its status is extraordinary: serial No. 0001, marking it as the very first pull, likely prepared for board approval or presentation to regulators.
The design features a central portrait medallion with dense guilloché borders, emblematic of Bradbury Wilkinson’s early Italian commissions. Blue underprint and ornate denomination counters give it a modern look for the 1860s. Issued examples, if they were ever released, have not survived; this specimen appears to be the only recorded survivor of its type.
Graded PMG 63 Choice Uncirculated and designated Top Pop, this note combines first-number pedigree with rarity of type. It is an essential piece for tracing the origins of Italy’s cooperative banking movement, as Bologna’s agricultural credit institutions were precursors to the broader Credito Cooperativo system that spread nationwide in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.