Papal Mint - Modern History of Papal Coin

Modern History of Papal Coin

No official collection of the papal coins was made before the time of Benedict XIV, who acquired from Cardinal Passionei the valuable collection of Scilla, which was enriched later by other acquisitions; in 1809, however, it was taken to Paris, and was never recovered. In the nineteenth century the Holy See obtained possession of the collection of Belli, begun in the previous century by Luigi Tommasini, and this collection became the basis of the Numismatic Cabinet, which is under the direction of the prefect of the Vatican Library and has a special custodian.

Since the loss of the Temporal power, the pope has not coined money; each year, however, he strikes the customary medal for the feast of Saint Peter, which is given to cardinals and to the employees of the Roman Curia.

In 1866, following the lead of the newly-united Italy (which had occupied 2/3 of the Papal States in 1860), the old baiocco/scudo system was scrapped in favor of the new lira, divided into 100 centesimi. This brought Papal coinage size, weight and composition into alignment with the rest of the Latin Monetary Union countries like France, Switzerland, and Spain, in addition to Italy.

After the confiscation of the remainder of the Papal States and Rome by Italy in 1870, there were of course no further issues until the establishment of the Vatican City State in 1929. However, there are pattern 5-Lire pieces of Leo XIII, coined in 1878 apparently by French friends of the Papacy. No such honor was bestowed on either St. Pius X or Benedict XV, however.

From 1931, the coins of Vatican City have been struck at the Italian State Mint in Rome (there are also coins dated 1929 and 1930, which were struck in 1931 and backdated accordingly), and are legal tender in both Italy and San Marino, in addition to the Holy See. Initially, coins were produced in the denominations of 5 and 10 Centesimi (in bronze), 20 and 50 Centesimi, and 1 and 2 Lire in nickel, 5 and 10 Lire in silver, and 100 Lire in gold. All popes since Pius XI have had coin issues, including the brief reign of John Paul I, which is represented by a 1000-Lire silver piece struck posthumously.

As the value of the Italian Lira declined in the years since World War II, new denominations in progressively higher values were introduced, with the lower values dropping off. All the centesimi denominations ceased to be issued after 1946, the gold 100-Lire after 1959, and the by-now tiny aluminum 1- and 2-Lire issues ended after 1977, with the 5-Lire disappearing a year later.

Before the Lira was replaced by the euro in 2002, issues for John Paul II included a 10-Lire piece in aluminum, a 20-Lire piece in an aluminum-bronze alloy, 50-Lire and 100-Lire pieces in copper-nickel, a 200-Lire coin in aluminum-bronze, and ringed, bimetallic 500- and 1000-Lire pieces for circulation and in the annual sets. Additionally, commemorative 500- and 1000-Lire pieces were struck in silver, as were 10,000-Lire pieces struck since 1995 for the upcoming Holy Year. Series of two gold coin issues, in the values of 50,000 Lire (.917 Gold, 0.2211 AGW/6.87gms, 7.5gms total weight) and 100,000 Lire (.917 Gold, 0.4422 AGW/13.74gms, 15gms total weight), were also struck in connection with Holy Year 2000. These were minted from 1996 to 2000.

Agreements with the European Union allowed the Holy See to switch to euro coinage when Italy did in 2002, even though Vatican City is not a member state of the European Union. Current issues include 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 cent and 1 and 2 euro denominations, in addition to commemorative coins of 5 and 10 euro in silver, as well as 20 and 50 euro in gold.

All these issues, the regular coinage, and the silver and gold commemoratives, can be obtained through mail order directly from the Vatican at the following address:

Ufficio Filatelico e Numismatico

Governatorato

00120 Città del Vaticano

VATICAN CITY