Kingdom of Italy 5 lire coin, 1927: eagle on the fasces (Romagnoli design)

Both faces of a 1927 five-lira coin. The obverse is the profile of King Vittorio Emanuele III with his full royal title. The reverse shows an eagle with open wings standing on a bound bundle of rods with an axe, the Roman fasces, above the value 'L. 5' and the date. The tell: the fasces, the emblem of the Fascist party, is carried on everyday state money beside the monarch's head, joining party and state symbols on a coin every citizen handles.

Date: 1927
Period: Interwar
Made by: Regia Zecca (Royal Mint), Kingdom of Italy; design by Giuseppe Romagnoli; issued under the Fascist government
Region: Western and Central Europe
Country: Fascist Italy
Medium: Banknotes and coins
Issuer type: State
Regime: Fascist Italy
Leader: Benito Mussolini
Audience: Domestic public
Purpose: Persuade or win support
Theme: Economy and finance
Techniques: Transfer
Regime: Fascist Italy under Mussolini
Leader: Benito Mussolini
Source: Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source: Wikimedia Commons (photograph of the coin by user Flanker), retrieved October 2, 2026
Rights: Coin issued 1927 (US PD, pre-1931); photo released to PD by uploader (Commons)
Coin: Regia Zecca, Rome, 1927, design by Giuseppe Romagnoli. Photograph: Flanker, via Wikimedia Commons.

Text on the object

Original (Italian) · read from the image, not independently checked

[reverse:] R    1927    L. 5

[obverse:] VITTORIO EMANUELE III RE D'ITALIA
[below the bust, small:] G. ROMAGNOLI [second small signature illegible]

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

[reverse:] R (Rome mint)    1927    5 lire

[obverse:] VICTOR EMMANUEL III KING OF ITALY
[below the bust, small:] G. ROMAGNOLI [second small signature illegible]

Small signatures read at 960 px; the second is not legible. Translation is a machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader.