500 Lire (San Marino, 1975)

Today's piece is something that came with the gold coin I showed you yesterday.

It's a piece that comes from the microstate of San Marino in Italy, and happens to be my first coin from that country!

Let's have a look:

As always I like to take a guess before digging more into a coin. In this one it appears we have a Neanderthal fella with a halo 😇 I'll call him saint Neanderthal

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Yeah no. Apparently this guy is supposed to depict Saint Marinus, carving a stone, which makes sense considering how tradition holds that he was a stonemason.

Marinus (/məˈriːnəs/; Italian: San Marino) was an Early Christian and the founder of a chapel and monastery in 301 from whose initial community the state of San Marino later grew source

There's also a bird like figure on the coin which I guess is the holy spirit.

The other side features the denomination, minting date and three castles, the main symbol of the San Marino coat of arms

(Public Domain)

Let's see some more photos now before learning a bit more about the coin

Something I forgot, the coin came with a nice patina ^_^

The edge is engraved with the words

RELINQUO VOS LIBEROS

This is a segment of the country's motto "Relinquo vos liberos ab utroque homine" for "I leave you free from both men", the alleged last words of the founder Marinus, possibly referring to Pope and the Emperor:

This somewhat mysterious phrase is most likely to refer to the two "men" from whose oppressive power Marinus had decided to separate himself, becoming a hermit on Mount Titano: respectively the Emperor and the Pope. This affirmation of freedom (first and foremost fiscal franchise) from both the Empire and the Papal States, however legendary, has always been the inspiration of the tiny republic. source

And that pretty much sums the historical details behind the coin!

When it comes to silver, we have 11 grams of 0.835 purity. Not bad!

The coin was minted in 1975 and is a cmmemorative piece for the opening of the Numismatic Agency.

Ok plebs, this concludes today's treasure! I really like this one, it's simple and quickly tells the story of the country!

As always, see you soon with more precious little stuff!

Stack on!

Fun Numismatics Posts
Enjoyed the post? Here is some more fun silver/numismatics themed content I have written in the past I think you will enjoy:

• The country that uses plastic coins!
• The bizarre coins of Cook Islands
• Infographic: What Type of Silver Whale are you?
• My silver pocket piece
• My favorite piece from the stack
• The 10 Million Dollar Coin
• This is where gold really comes from!
• That's one big nugget!
• The Ten Thousand Dollar Bill ?!?!
• Biggest Gold Coin Ever
• A coin made of cardboard
• The microorganism that poops gold!
• World's smallest gold coin
• Manchukuo's Fiber Coins from 1945

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