20 Lira

1849, Sardinia, Charles Albert I. Gold 20 Lire Coin. Low Pop! (6.45gm) NGC MS63!

Mint Year: 1849
Mint Place: Genoa
Denomination: 20 Lire
Reference: Friedberg 1143, KM-131.2. R!
Condition: Certified and graded by NGC as MS-63! - Population 7/15!
Material: Gold (.900)
Diameter: 21mm
Weight: 6.45gm

Obverse: Bust of Charles Albert right. Date (1849) below.
Legend: CAR . ALBERTVS D . G . REX SAR . CYP . ET HIER .

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

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 Albert (Carlo Alberto Amedeo; 2 October 1798 – 28 July 1849) was the King of Piedmont-Sardinia from 1831 to 1849. He succeeded his distant cousin Charles Felix, and his name is bound with the first Italian statute and the First War of Independence (1848–49). He abdicated after his forces were defeated by the Austrian army at the Battle of Novara (1849), and died in exile soon thereafter.