1985 AD., Italy, year of the Etruscan Culture commemorative issue, Rome mint, 500 Lire, KM 118.

Italy, year of the Etruscan Culture commemorative issue (collectors´ item), Rome mint, engraver: Uliana Pernazza, dated 1985 AD.,
500 Lire (ø 29 mm / 10,96 g), 0.8350 silver, 11,00 g. theor. mint weight, mintage 103.651 , axes coin alignment ↑↓ (180°), plain edge with raised lettering: "REPUBLICA ITALIANA I " ,
Obv.: REPUBLICA ITALIANA / U. PERNAZZA , depiction of an Etruscan bronze votive warrior with helmet and shield standing half r., right hand raised, engraver´s name below - riproduzione di un bronzo di un guerriero, in basso, il nome dell'autore.
Rev.: ANNO - DEGLI ETRUSCHI / 1985 / R / L. 500 , depiction of the Etruscan `Winged Horses of Tarquinia´, two winged horses standing left, mint mark "R" l. below - riproduzione dei cavalli alati di Tarquinia, il segno di Zecca "R".
KM 118 .

Year / Mint Mark / Mintage
1985 / R / 103.651
1985 / R / ? (proof issue)

Tarquinia, formerly Corneto and in Antiquity Tarquinii, is an ancient city in the province of Viterbo, Lazio, Italy.
In the remains of the so-called Ara della Regina temple (original dedication unknown), measuring c. 44 × 25 m and dating to c. 4th-3rd century BC., which was built in tufa with wooden structures and decorations, is a frieze of winged horses in terracotta. However, the current location of the work of art is only temporary. In the near future the winged horses will be on display in a special room along with the other material found in the temple of the Ara of the Regina. The sculpture was found broken in more than a hundred fragments , by the archaeologist Pietro Romanelli in 1938 , during the campaign excavation conducted on the Civita of Tarquinia , the seat of the ancient Etruscan city. The slab of terracotta ( 114 cm high and 124 wide ) adorned the pediment of the largest sacred building and it was applied , according to the Etruscan fashion , at the head of one of the beams of the triangle pediment . The winged horses were yoked to a chariot ( which is the axis of the rudder ) mounted to a deity, perhaps the same one that was dedicated to the great temple. The wagon , which was to decorate a second sheet alongside the first , has been lost. After the discovery , the sculptural group was reassembled and integrated in a couple of months and immediately exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum of Tarquinia , from which it is out no longer, except for exceptional events such as the first major exhibition on Etruscan civilization staged in 1955 in Zurich and later in Milan. In 2004, more than sixty years after the discovery. The project involved the replacement of the old bonds now deteriorated, consolidation and cleaning of surfaces , which have brought back way too many traces of the original color, change old integrations according to the criteria of the current restoration.