This is an Italian coin embedded in a piece of volcanic lava. These items have been manufactured by Italian entrepreneurs since the early 1900's for sale to tourists. Most of them come from the Mt. Vesuvius volcano region near Naples which last erupted in 1944. The volcanic lava coin pictured here may have been brought to America by a returning serviceman.

The coin is a Italy Bronze 5 centesimi 1919, about 19 mm in diameter.
The lava size is 2-1/2 x 2 x 1-1/2 inches (6.0 x 5.0 x 4.0 cm) and weighs 3 oz. (87 gm).

The coin is a Italian Bronze 5 centesimi dated 1919 with a diameter of 19 mm.
It is about the size of a United States Lincoln cent.

Bronze, 19 mm, 3.27 gm

An American friend gave me this interesting rock and asked me to identify it. It is an Italian coin embedded in a piece of lava and is a souvenir made for tourists by pressing a coin into a piece of warm lava. The coin is a common bronze Italian coin dated 1919 which dates the item to after that year. It had to be made near an active volcano in a tourist area, and the most likely ones are Mt. Vesuvius and Mt. Etna in Italy. The volcano Mt. Vesuvius and the neighboring Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum are a famous attraction and are visited by by thousands every year. The area has a large tourist industry including the manufacture and sale of souvenirs. Mt. Etna in Sicily has erupted many times and is also a tourist attraction. I have seen only copper coins used in this way and always the coin side with the date is visible.

At least two British museums have similar objects, the Cliffe Castle Museum and York Museum. A man from Italy wrote me that there are lots souvenir shops near Mt. Etna selling lava pieces, but he did not see any with coins in them. A World War II soldier reported that a man was selling such items near the summit of Mt. Etna. A man from England wrote me that his World War II veteran grandfather brought a lava coin dated 1942 back from Italy volcano Mt. Vesuvius. Thus we know they were still being manufactured in or after 1942. A man from the Netherlands wrote me that his World War II veteran grandfather brought a lava coin dated 1940 back from Italy (Sicily) volcano Mt. Etna.