20 Lira Italy / Italian city-states Gold

1827, Kingdom of Sardinia, Charles Felix I. Gold 20 Lire Coin.

Mint Year: 1827 

Mint Place: Turin (L) 

Denomination: 20 Lire  

Reference: KM-118.1

Material: Gold (.900) 

Diameter: 21mm 

Weight: 6.34gm

Obverse: Bust of Charles Felix I  right. Legend: CAR . FELIX D . G . REX SAR . CYP . ET HIER . 1827

Reverse: Crowned arms of the Kingdom of Sardinia inside wreath. Legend: DVX SAB . GENVAE ET MONTISF . PRINC . PED . & (eagle) . L . 20 . (L)

Kingdom of Sardinia, also known as Piedmont-Sardinia or Sardinia-Piedmont, was the name given to the possessions of the House of Savoy in 1720, when the island of Sardinia was awarded by the Treaty of London to Duke Victor Amadeus II of Savoy to compensate him for the loss of Sicily to Austria. Besides Sardinia, the kingdom included Savoy, Piedmont and Nice; Liguria, including Genoa, was added by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Officially, the nation’s name became Kingdom of Sardinia, Cyprus, and Jerusalem, Duchy of Savoy and Montferrat, Principality of Piedmont. During most of the 18th and 19th centuries under the House of Savoy, the political and economical capital was Turin. In 1860 Nice and Savoy were ceded to France as a price paid for French support in the campaign to unify Italy. In 1861, it became a founding state of the new Kingdom of Italy, and ceased to exist after that date.

Charles Felix I of Sardinia (Carlo Felice Giuseppe Maria, April 6, 1765–April 27, 1831) was the Duke of Savoy, Piedmont, Aosta and King of Sardinia from 1821 to 1831.

He was the eleventh child and fifth son born to Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia and Maria Antonietta of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Philip V of Spain and Elizabeth of Parma.

He was a younger brother of Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia and Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia. He was not expected to ever succeed to the throne. However Charles Emmanuel never had any children and abdicated the throne on June 4, 1802. Victor Emmanuel had four living daughters when he abdicated the throne in 1821. As the succession was regulated by the Salic Law, Charles Felix succeeded his brother on the throne.

He was married by proxy to Maria Cristina, Princess of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (January 17, 1779- March 11, 1849) on 7 March 1807. She was a daughter of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies and Marie Caroline of Austria.

Charles Felix died without issue after a reign of ten years. He was succeeded by the senior male of his House as Charles Albert of Sardinia.