1974 San Marino 20 Lire, PCGS MS-67, San Marino, Lobster

Aluminum-bronze is sued to make shinny coins that recall gold when new. The tone on this photo is more likely to be correct.

I would think it odd if San Marino chose to include a "lobster" in their 1974 "animals" series of coins (at this point in history, San Marino was using a different design on its coins each year). San Marino is landlocked, and as such has no lobsters (which are saltwater animals). All of the other animals in the 1974 series (ant, ladybug, hedgehog, honeybee, rooster, goat and pigeon) can all be found within San Marino's borders, so it would be odd if this "lobster" were an exception. So rather than a "lobster", what San Marino does have is crayfish, their freshwater equivalents. Specifically, the white-clawed crayfish, an endangered species.

I can't find any references that actually call the animal a "crayfish", and the artist in question has taken enough artistic license to be uncertain of the species. I was trying to find a picture of the information card that comes with the 1974 mint set, to see which Italian word is used (aragosta or gamberessa), but nobody selling the set shows such a card, so maybe it didn't come with one.

I've got one or two of these in AU condition in a Dansco.....somewhere. I'll need to dig them out and check their look.

The 20 Lire in my set is gold colored, but hard to photograph through the OGP.

Very nice!

Thank you for sharing that.

Excellent!

Very nice, RoLik!