Vatican to double the coins it mints, putting many in circulation

(december 19, 2009) Visitors to Rome, especially those who buy something at the Vatican, may actually have a chance in 2010 to get their hands on a Vatican euro coin. Representatives of the Vatican and the European Union signed a new agreement in Brussels December 17 allowing the Vatican to more than double the monetary value of the coins it issues, but also requiring the Vatican to put a large chunk of its coins into circulation. A spokeswoman at the Vatican Philatelic and Numismatic Office told on December 18 that they had not yet refined a strategy for getting the coins into cash registers and pockets, but a plan will be in place well before the March or April release of the 2010 coins. For eight years, the vast majority of Vatican euro coins were sold as sets to collectors for 30 Euros each (about $43), although some Vatican employees had an opportunity to buy rolls of the coins at face value. The annual release of the Vatican coins was marked by long lines of collectors waiting to buy them and by disappointed customers who found the stocks exhausted in just a few days. Under the terms of the new agreement, instead of being limited to a total annual coin value of just fewer than 1.1 million Euros, the Vatican will be authorized to mint coins worth up to 2.3 million Euros. The Vatican began issuing euro coins in 2002, just a few months after the currency made its debut in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. Each country uses the same design for one side of each Euro coin and then places its own design on the opposite side. The Vatican coins feature a bust of Pope Benedict XVI.