When the Italian small-change coins spiccioli began to vanish in 1965, some said the lightweight aluminum pieces were being collected by the Japanese for cheap watch cases. Others thought the coins were disappearing into cloth-covered buttons or, perhaps, simply blowing away.
In fact, the disappearance of spiccioli began in 1964 when, faced by soaring double-digit inflation, the Italian government ceased minting the silver 500-lira piece, which had become more valuable as metal than as money. Italians were expected to make change with smaller aluminum coins worth 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 lire. But the national supply of small change was swiftly devoured by coin-operated vending machines, by tourists going home with pocketfuls of nearly worthless foreign coins, and by work stoppages at the Italian mint.
As a result, getting change while shopping became a major problem. The post office tried to solve it by giving out stamps worth a few centesimi (100 to the lira), but a huge envelope was needed to accommodate the numerous stamps required even for local delivery. Butchers passed out eggs as a fragile alternative to coins. News vendors, given 100-lira pieces for 90-lira newspapers, made change with candy valued at 10 lire, and many storekeepers dealt out such differences in the form of nougat and licorice.
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