Collection PL

About 1994.pl
Results for “german unification era”
Italy 1871 Germania with shield and spear vignette die proof engraved by Bradbury Wilkinson for the Banca Italo-Germanica 500 Lire design

Italy 1871 - Germania with Shield and Spear Vignette Die Proof Used on 500 Lire (Pick PS977)

The allegorical figure represents Germania, the female national personification of Germany. Crowned with laurel and armed with spear and shield bearing the imperial eagle, she embodies the newly unified German Empire proclaimed in 1871 following the Franco-Prussian War. The appearance of Germania on a banknote prepared for an Italian banking institution reflects the transnational character of the Banca Italo-Germanica, a financial enterprise intended to facilitate commercial and industrial cooperation between Italy and the newly unified Germany during the rapid economic expansion of the period. Read more →

ItalyVignette1871-PMG Certified (Vignette Proof) VignetteVignette ProofIntaglio PrintSteel EngravingBanknote EngravingGermania AllegoryGermania with Shield and SpearFemale Personification of GermanyImperial Eagle ShieldBradbury WilkinsonBWCSecurity Printing19th Century EngravingEngraving Approval StageBanca Italo-GermanicaItalo-German Banking RelationsEuropean Banking HistoryGerman Unification EraItaly1871500 LirePS977Museum Grade
Held
Ask PMG Census

Explore the collection

Italy 1871 Germania with shield and spear vignette die proof engraved by Bradbury Wilkinson for the Banca Italo-Germanica 250 Lire (Pick PS976)

Italy 1871 - Standing Italia Vignette Die Proof used on Banca Italo-Germanica 250 Lire

The imagery belongs closely to the political setting of the period. Italian unification had been completed only shortly before, with Rome incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy in 1870 and established as the national capital in 1871. The personification of Italia therefore carried immediate national meaning, combining classical allegory, heraldry and contemporary state identity within a commercial banking design.

Banca Italo-Germanica
Italy 1871–1872 Banca Italo-Germanica 250 Lire specimen, Pick S976s, Bradbury Wilkinson & Co., PMG 64 Top Pop

Italy 1871–1872 - Banca Italo-Germanica 250 Lire Specimen (Pick S976s)

An exceptional and academically important survival from the experimental phase of Italy’s early post-unification banking era, this 250 Lire specimen from the short-lived Banca Italo-Germanica, cataloged as Pick S976s, represents one of the rarest and most ambitious private note-issuing projects attempted in Rome during the 1870s. No issued examples of this type are known to exist, and all scholarship indicates that the bank’s banknote program collapsed before any notes entered circulation, leaving only a microscopic number of presentation pulls, proofs, or internal printer’s archive sheets. This PMG 64 Choice Uncirculated example is the sole graded specimen in the PMG census, making it both Top Pop and Only Pop.

Post Unification Italy German Capital in Italy
Italy 1869 Credito Agricolo della Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna 30 Lire specimen serial number 0001 printed by Bradbury Wilkinson and Company PMG 63 Top Pop

Italy 1869 - Credito Agricolo della Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna 30 Lire Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

Specimen of the 30 Lire issue from the Credito Agricolo della Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna, produced by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Company during the critical early phase of post-unification Italian financial restructuring. The denomination itself-30 Lire-is highly unconventional and appears directly tied to structured agricultural credit mechanisms rather than standard monetary circulation, reflecting targeted rural financing systems implemented in newly unified Italy.

Post Unification Italy
↑ Top