Italy 2 lire 1916 R - Victor Emmanuel III

The coin's story

This 2 lire coin in 835 thousandths silver belongs to the quadriga series struck from 1914 to 1917 in the name of Victor Emmanuel III. Victor Emmanuel III came to the throne on 29 July 1900, after the assassination of his father Umberto I, and reigned until his abdication on 9 May 1946, three weeks later, the referendum of 2 and 3 June 1946 abolished the monarchy. The reverse shows a quadriga bearing the word FERT, driven by a helmeted woman holding a sword, a shield and an olive branch. The portrait is the work of Davide Calandra, and the reverse was engraved by Attilio Silvio Motti. The 1916 date has 10,923,056 pieces at the Rome Mint. The edge repeats FERT, the motto of the House of Savoy, whose exact meaning has been lost.