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V28 2025 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 28, Number 20, 2025, Article 9

"I enjoyed the item on Sede Vacante coins in the latest E-Sylum. I put together a small piece on the same subject for a local online group a few days ago and photographed the small number of "S.V." coins I have to go with it. It was the first time I'd put the 1958 and 1963 coins side by side and noticed that they were pretty much identical, except for the change of one letter in the date as spelled out in Roman numerals on each - MCMLVIII and MCMLXIII respectively. I suspect the same dies were used but just with a switch-out of that V for an X for the later issue. Folks with better eyes or technical equipment than I have may be able to detect more differences but that was as far as I got.

"I was therefore amused to see that the "1958" coin accompanying the E-Sylum is actually a 1963 piece - a very easy mistake to make in the light of the above."

Here's a page from a catalogue I used to read over and over as a kid. I used to wonder, looking at the Papal States and Vatican sections, what this regular "Sede Vacante" thing was, and it was a while before I realised it meant, literally, that the Holy See was vacant, i.e. a time between popes with no-one in office. I've no idea how far back the practice of striking coins for these occasions goes but clearly it has been done for centuries.

During the later 20th century there were some nice silver commemorative pieces that aren't all that expensive to obtain - and two of them in 1978, since there were two gaps that year, before and after John Paul I, who lasted only slightly over a month in office.

I see online that they still made 2-euro Sede Vacante commemoratives in 2005 and 2013, but probably due to the proportional mintage rules for Euro coinage there aren't enough Vatican euro commemoratives to meet demand and that's reflected in the prices. I guess there'll be another this year to continue the series.

Vatican City, Sede Vacante (Interregnum between Popes), 500 Lire 1963 (in card) and 1958 (in red presentation case). At a quick glance it looks like they may have dug out the dies for the 1958 coin and swapped the Roman numeral V in the date for an X to reuse it five years later Apologies for the quality of the 1958 pics - I wasn't going to risk damaging an old polythene sleeve to get the photos.

1978 Sede Vacante coin (first issue): This one has a similar design to the 1958 and 1963 ones, but has a slightly more "arty" treatment to the design elements and lettering.

To read the complete article, see:
SEDE VACANTE COINS (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n19a25.html)