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1 Sobirana - Joan Martí i Alanis Episcopal Co-Prince, Latin
| Issuer | Principality of Andorra |
|---|---|
| Year | 1979 |
| Type | Collector coin |
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| Obverse description | Right-facing bust of Joan Martí i Alanis, Episcopal Co-Prince of Andorra, depicted in clerical vestments and wearing a zucchetto, rendered in high relief with fine portraiture detail. The effigy occupies the central field, with the engraver's initials LT visible at the truncation. The surrounding Latin legend reads JOHANNES D.M. EPS. VRGELL. ET PRINC. VALL. ANDORRAE, distributed around the full circumference of the coin, interrupted by decorative dots as word separators. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | JOHANNES D.M. EPS. VRGELL. ET PRINC. VALL. ANDORRAE (Translation: Joan D.M. Bishop of Urgell and Prince of Andorra Valleys) |
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| Additional information |
Joan Martí i Alanis served as the Episcopal Co-Prince of Andorra from 1971 to 2003, one of the longest tenures in that office's modern history. The Co-Princeship itself is a feudal survival dating to the 1278 paréage between the Bishop of Urgell and the Count of Foix — meaning Andorra's head of state has been a Catholic bishop, jointly, for over seven centuries.
This 1979 gold issue was among the first specie coinage Andorra produced for collectors, the principality having operated without its own official coinage for most of its history. The Latin inscription places it explicitly in the ecclesiastical tradition of the bishopric rather than the civil administration.