In 1988, the communist government of the Polish People's Republic authorized a trial strike commemorating John Paul II — an extraordinary political concession given that the Papacy represented precisely the institutional opposition the regime had spent a decade attempting to contain. Solidarity's near-suppression and the ongoing friction between Warsaw and the Vatican made official papal coinage a charged act. This nickel essai was never approved for circulation.
In 1988, the communist government of the Polish People's Republic authorized a trial strike commemorating John Paul II — an extraordinary political concession given that the Papacy represented precisely the institutional opposition the regime had spent a decade attempting to contain. Solidarity's near-suppression and the ongoing friction between Warsaw and the Vatican made official papal coinage a charged act. This nickel essai was never approved for circulation.