Miniture italian 50 and 100 lira coins

I got these in a bulk sale. They look real except for the small size. Are they toys? I don't know what to write on the card 🤔

The later versions were reduced in size.

Yer kidding right? They shrunk thier money? Wow. I wonder what problem they were solving? Excessive pocket wear finally solved!

Thanks!

The cost! Smaller coins = less material. The same reason US 1c coins are more expensive to make than their value. If they reduce the 1c coin in size that may change :-)

They made the 50 and 100 lire tiny for a few years in the early 90s. Ultimately made them slightly larger and updated the design. It’s shocking how worthless the lira became eventually. My mother tells me stories of going to a shop and buying a single, individually wrapped sweet for 100 lire. I was in Rome a few weeks ago and we actually drove past a store called ‘1000 lire’! I guess that was their equivalent of the dollar store or Poundland...

Citeer: "Limbru"​The cost! Smaller coins = less material. The same reason US 1c coins are more expensive to make than their value. If they reduce the 1c coin in size that may change :-)

​I think we keep them for nostalgia.

Citeer: "GoldenGarfield"​They made the 50 and 100 lire tiny for a few years in the early 90s. Ultimately made them slightly larger and updated the design. It’s shocking how worthless the lira became eventually. My mother tells me stories of going to a shop and buying a single, individually wrapped sweet for 100 lire. I was in Rome a few weeks ago and we actually drove past a store called ‘1000 lire’! I guess that was their equivalent of the dollar store or Poundland...

​It’s funny, 1000 lire is 47p.

They are not at all uncommon.

I remember that they decreased the size of the to get us used to the use of the future euro but exaggerated with the miniaturization.

The 50 lire was reduced to 18mm for a while but then it was demonitised, and the 100 lire became the virenium coin about 22mm in size.