World coins chat: Vatican City

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Vatican City is the smallest sovereign state in the world, situated on Vatican Hill in a walled enclave within the Italian capital city of Rome. It has a population of 842, of which 451 actually hold Vatican citizenship.


Flag of the Vatican City

History
The Vatican City was the result of the Lateran Treaty (1929) between Italy and the Holy See (the authority represented by the Pope) and ended the situation that had existed since Italy annexed Rome in 1870, ending the existence of the Papal States. The Vatican City is strictly speaking not a successor state of the Papal States, which spanned across much of Central Italy. It is dependent on Italy in most matters but does have its own railway station, postal service and license plates.


Map of the Vatican City within Rome. The light grey St. Peter's Square is within the jurisdiction of the Italian national police. Within the walls the colourful Swiss guards are responsible for protection. There is even a disputed strip of land behind the right columns. You can walk around the entire country in 45 minutes.

The Vatican City is located on Vatican Hill. Saint Peter's Basilica with its famous St. Peter's Square are the most prominent landmarks, but the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel are also frequently visited by tourists and pilgrims.

Besides running a global religion and a museum, the Vatican receives considerable revenues from selling its own stamps and coins.

Currency
The Lateran Treaty of 1929 provided that the Vatican City could mint its own coins in accordance with the Bank of Italy. It did so the same year with a series from 5 Centesimi to 20 Lire. All Vatican coins have the same specification as contemporary Italian coins, but switched designs much more often, either because a new pope was elected or just to fuel collector demand.

Vatican coin production did not cease during WW2, but was reduced to very low numbers making them extremely rare. The 1947-49 series is also quite rare. Coins with new specifications were issued from 1951 and designs remained the same until 1958. Designs would mostly alternate after that year with the exception of 1970-77.

With the introduction of Euro coins in Italy in 2002, the Vatican issued its own coins. Where previous Vatican Lira coins were quite easy to obtain, Euro coin collectors hoarded the Vatican Euro coins to extreme levels, with the 2002 set as high as 1000 EUR. Because of Pope John Paul II's age it was expected that a new pope would soon succeed him causing a change of coin design. It took until 2005 before that happened.

During Benedict XVI's papacy (2005-2013) relatively large quantities of 50 Euro cents have been produced, making it the only affordable Vatican Euro coin. This practice continued under Pope Francis. Recent Vatican Euro coin sets are not that expensive compared with the earliest issues, selling around 50 EUR. The Vatican City has produced numerous non-circulating legal tender, often with nicely detailed Italian designs.

Most Vatican coins were or are legal tender but most were sold in sets or used as gifts by officials. Some of the higher mintage coins were distributed as change in the Vatican museum, and did end up circulating, though mostly shortly as people would take them out of circulation quite quickly.

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/vatican-1.html
I love the designs of the early Vatican coins. My first decent find in a bulk lot when I first started collecting was a silver Vatican 5 lire coin from 1931

Quote: "neilithic"​I love the designs of the early Vatican coins. My first decent find in a bulk lot when I first started collecting was a silver Vatican 5 lire coin from 1931


You're right, pre-1945 Vatican coins are so beautiful.
ROMAE AETERNAE
Does anyone know why there is a new design for the Vatican Euro coins of 2017? I thought it was not allowed to change the design unless the sovereign (in this case the Pope) changed.

Not that I want those coins. This smells like a scam. They don't circulate anyway.
They actually do circulate. I live in Milan and received a 2018 50 cent as change the other day
funny to see mention of scam -
the Papal State got kicked out of the LMU in 1870 for debasing their silver coins!
Jamais l'or n'a perdu la plus petite occasion de se montrer stupide. -Balzac
Hello
Monument for summer holidays
Ivan

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