Thursday, 9 August 2018

777) "80th Anniversary of the Founding of the Vatican City State (1929-2009)": A Vatican Euro Coin Set depicting Pope Benedict XVI on the Obverse, issued by the Vatican City Mint in 2009:

777) "80th Anniversary of the Founding of the Vatican City State (1929-2009)": A Vatican Euro Coin Set depicting Pope Benedict XVI on the Obverse, issued by the Vatican City Mint in 2009:

For some other interesting posts from Italy, please visit the following links:

About Vatican Coins:

The Euro is the official currency of the Vatican City State, although the Vatican is not a member of the Eurozone or the European Union.

Vatican Euro Coins are issued by the Philatelic and Numismatic Office of the Vatican City State and are minted by "Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca delio Stato" (IPZS) in Rome, Italy.

The First Series of Vatican Euro Coins (2002-2005) featured an effigy of Pope John Paul II. These coins were issued only in Collector sets and bore an extreme mark-up with the 2002 Collector set costing way over 1,000 Euros at the Vatican Philatelic and Numismatic outlet and much more on re-sales. The denominations included in this Coin Set  were - 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents and 1 and 2 Euros.

The Obverses of all these coins featured an effigy of Pope John Paul II, while the Reverses bore images of the common side of Euro coins.

The Second Series of Vatican Euro Coins (2005):

Upon the passing away of Pope John Paul II in April 2005, the Vatican issued special coins during the period of "Sede vacante" (meaning "seat is vacant" in Latin) depicting the emblem of the Apostolic Chamber - two crossed keys beneath an "umbraculum" or umbrella. These coins also had the Coat of Arms of the "Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church" - at the time Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo. (The "Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church" is an office of the papal household that administers the property and revenues of the Holy See).

The Third Series of Vatican Euro Coins (2006-2013):

When the Pope was elected, the Third Series of Vatican Euro Coins were issued on 27.04.2006, which depict the effigy of Pope Benedict XVI and the 12 stars of the European Union. These coins carry an inscription "Citta del Vaticano"  and the 12 stars of the European Union.


The Cover of the Coin Album is titled "80th Anniversario Della Fondazione Dello Stato Della Cita del Vaticano" (meaning "80th Anniversary of the founding of the Vatican City State)



About the "80th Anniversary of the founding of the Vatican City State (1929-2009)":
On 01.02.1929, in the Hall of Honour of the Lateran Palace, the "Lateran Pacts" were signed, intended to put an end to the "Roman question" and to give a precise configuration to the relations between the Church and the State of Italy.

On that date, the Vatican City State was also formally "founded". In those days Pius XI affirmed "Some territorial sovereignty is a universally recognised condition indispensable to any true jurisdictional sovereignty: so at least  that much territory that is sufficient to support sovereignty itself, without which it could not exist, because it would not know where to rest ......".

From that day, all the Popes who have succeeded him over the past 80 years have confirmed the nature of this territorial entity as a means of ensuring the real and visible independence of the Apostolic See in its activities of governance of the Catholic Church and of service to humanity.

Among the attributes of the State are included those of printing postal values/stamps and minting money.

The Vatican City State is the smallest in the world (44.0 hectares) and has a population of about 800 persons, divided between citizens and residents.

In 1984, UNESCO declared the Vatican City a World Heritage Site.

The 8 Coin Set issued by the IPZS, Italy in the year 2009 includes the denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 Euro cents and 1 and 2 Euro Coins.

On the Obverse sides of all the coins are seen an effigy of Pope Benedict XVI. On the periphery are the 12 stars of the European Inion and the inscription "CITTA'DEL VATICANO-2009". On the top of this page is the Emblem of the Vatican City state and MMIX-2009.

The Coin Set  is titled "PONTIFICATE OF BENEDICT XVI - Euro Coins - Year 2009" and  has been issued by the "Stato Della Citta" Del Vaticano" and " Governatorato - Ufficio Numismatico" (meaning "Office of the Numismatic Government - or Treasury - of the Vatican City State").

                             The 8 Coin set on a stand-alone basis


The Reverse of all the 8 coins in the Coin Set show the common designs of all Euro coins


The Emblem or Coat of Arms of the Vatican City State:


The Coat of Arms of the Holy see and Vatican City state combines two crossed keys and a tiara. Its origins date back to the 14th Century AD.

The Coat of Arms of the Vatican City State, a sovereign entity established by the Lateran Treaty on 11.02.1929 has a silver key in bend and a gold key in bend sinister.


The Coat of Arms of the Vatican City State was adopted on 07.06.1929

Escutcheon: The Fundamental Law of Vatican City State describes the shield as "chiavi decussate sormontate del Triregno in campo rosso" (meaning "keys in saltire surmounted by a papal tiara on a red field) and depicts the keys as two, one silver (argent) in bend and one gold (Or) in bend sinister, interlaced at their inter-section with a red (gules) cord. The tiara is represented as white with golden crowns).

The fourth Series of Vatican state Euro Coins (2014-2014-2016:

This Series of Vatican Euro Coins feature an effigy of Pope Francis. Three different images of Pope Francis were used in this Series. The coins issued were also in the denominatioons of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 Euro cents and 1 and 2 Euro Coins.

The Fifth Series of Vatican Euro Coins (2017-present):

This Series of 8 coins depicts the Coat of Arms of Pope Francis. These coins no longer bear the Pope's image and now feature the Papal Coat of arms of Pope Francis.

This set of Gold Coins on Pope Francis' 80th Birthday were issued by the Cook Islands: Pope Francis' 80th Birthday on 17.12.16: Six Commemorative Coins issued by the Cook islands

Shortly after his 80th Birthday, Pope francis announced that he did not want his image to be carried on Vatican City state Coins, which is the reason for the Vatican coins featuring the Papal Coat of Arms

Commemorative Coins issued by the Vatican City State mint:

The Vatican City mint has also issued the following Euro Coins over the years:
75th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Vatican City state (2004), 20th World Youth Day in Cologne (2005), 500th anniversary of the Swiss Pontifical Guard (2006), 80th anniversary of the birth of Pope Benedict XVI (2007), Year of the apostle (2008), International Year of Astronomy (2009), Year of the Priests (2010), XXVI World Youth day in Madrid (2011), 7th World Meeting of the Families (2012), XXVIII World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro (2013), Sede Vacante (2013), 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall (2014), 8th Meeting of the families (2015), Jubilee of Mercy (2016), bicentenary of the Vatican Gendarmerie (2016), centenary of the Fatima apparitions (2017), 1950th Anniversary of the  martyrdom of Saint Peter & Saint Paul (2017).



(The above coin-set is from the collection of Jayant Biswas, who has also scanned the images for this post. Post researched and written by Rajeev Prasad)










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