Miniassegni

Miniassegni were a type of notegeld that was circulated in Italy in the late 1970s. Miniassegni were used as replacement for change which had become very scarce. Before miniassegni appeared, widely used replacement for coins had been telephone tokens, candy, or other small merchandise items, and - in some cities – public transport tickets.

The first miniassegni were issued in December 1975, with face values of Lit. 50, Lit. 100 (about US$ 0.14 at 1983 exchange rates), Lit. 150, Lit. 200, Lit. 250, Lit. 300 and Lit. 350. The name (mini-checks) indicated that they were money-orders (assegni circolari in Italian), but smaller than normal.

To overcome the prohibition to issue currency (exclusive prerogative of the Bank of Italy), banks were printing actual bank drafts, made payable to various small entities and companies with their pre-printed endorsement. The checks were then treated as bearer securities, and exchanged by the public as if they were real currency.

At their pick, there existed 835 different types of miniassegni, issued by 42 banks, for a total estimated value of more than Lit. 200 billion.

The miniassegni disappeared at the end of 1978 when the Government Printing Office and Mint was finally able to overcome the lack of small change.