10 Cents Probe Trial Essai

Vatican euro coinage required special negotiation — the Holy See is not an EU member state, yet was granted the right to mint euro-denominated coins under a monetary agreement with Italy first signed in 1999 and renegotiated in 2009. Trial and essai pieces from the 2005–2007 window fall during the sede vacante following John Paul II's death and the early pontificate of Benedict XVI, a period when the Vatican mint was simultaneously managing two distinct portrait series within just months of each other.