There Am Lira (American Lira) is one banknote printed in the USA during the Second World War and introduced in Italy byAmgot (Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories) following the landing in Sicily in July 1943. After the official recognition by the Italian government that took place on September 24, 1943, the Am Lira remained in circulation until June 1950but as early as 1946 the Bank of Italy has taken on control and began replacement with Italian lire. Today these banknotes, which at the time were worth $ 0.01 US dollars, are still in the world of collecting, and may have value Up to 800 euros.
Am Lire: History of American lire wanted by allies
After the landing of the allies in Sicily, which took place between 9 and 10 July 1043, in Italy theAmgot – Allied Military Government of Occupied Territorias (Allied military government of the occupied territories) organ that deals with administer the Italian provinces occupied by the Anglo-Americans. AMGOT decision is also print your own currency which therefore has value in Italy: so the Am Lirethe American lire, totally interchangeable with the Italian lira.
The first issue of AM Lire, called “1943 series” is printed by the printers of Bureau of Engraving and Printing – the US government agency that operates within the Department of the United States Treasury with the task of carrying out the financial instruments for the Federal Government of the United States – in collaboration with the Forbes Lithograph Corporation. In reality, the study and production of this paper was already started in 1942, but only after the landing in Sicily the wording was added Lira/ Lire and Issued in Italyuntil then omitted so as not to leak to which country the banknotes were destined.
The second series – La 1943a – It is only printed by the Forbes Lithograph Corporation, but 1 and 2 lire tickets are no longer printed, useless due to inflation.
How the am lire are made
The am Lires have been printed on rag paper method lithographic and inks so these “High specific spectrals“, Method that should have made counterfeiting more difficult, which was not rare.
All tickets report on the back, in English, the Four freedoms sanctioned in the American Constitution:
- Freedom of speechfreedom of speech
- Freedom of religionfreedom of religion
- Freedom from Wantfreedom from need
- Freedom from Fearfreedom from fear
How much the am Lire were worth
100 AM Lire were worth 1 dollarand banknotes were printed from 1, 2, 5, 10 am lire, which they had square formand 50, 100, 500, 1000 am lire that were instead rectangularof the same format as the dollar.
The high exchange rate contributed to the very heavy inflationand that hit Italy after the war.
The end of the am Lire in 1950
In total they were printed 917.7 million am Lireequal to About 167 billion LIRAnd, but at the end of the war, in January 1946, an agreement between the Italian and ally government recognized the Bank of Italy the faculty to issue the am lire “In order to unify of said circulation with that of the Bank itself”, up to the termination of the legal course of this paper.
Following this agreement, the am -printed Lire in America come withdraw and burned To ensure that two different coins are not circulating in Italy. With the ministerial decree of 18 February 1950 the validity deadline was sanctioned as of June 30, 1950, with a prescription until 31 December 1951 declared by the decree of 16 April 1951.
The life of the American occupation currency is definitively ends with law no. 3598 of 28 December 1952, which authorizes the Ministry of the Treasury to release to Bank of Italy of the Ordinary treasure vouchers To “remedy” the debt corresponding to the AM lire that had been eliminated following the 1946 convention. Today it is possible to purchase the am Lire for collecting purposes, of which different types are in circulation. Indicatively, the am Lire have a value that ranges between 8 euros and 800 eurosdepending on the size of the cut.
