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5 Lire - Pivs XI
| Issuer | Vatican City State |
|---|---|
| Year | 1929-1937 |
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| Orientation | Coin alignment ↑↓ |
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| Obverse description | Left-facing draped bust of Pope Pius XI, wearing the papal mozetta richly embroidered with decorative motifs, rendered in high relief in the style of Aurelio Mistruzzi. The legend arcs around the periphery reading PIVS XI PONT MAX followed by the regnal year of the pontificate. The engravers' signatures MISTRVZZI and A. MOTTI INC. appear in small characters at the lower right of the field. The portrait captures the Pope's strong facial features with naturalistic detail characteristic of Italian medallic art of the interwar period. |
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| Obverse lettering | PIVS XI PONT· MAX·A·XI MISTRVZZI A·MOTTI·INC (Translation: Pius XI Pontifex Maximus, greatest priest, Year XI (11) of papacy A. MISTRUZZI (Engraver)) |
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| Additional information |
These coins belong to the first series issued by Vatican City as a sovereign entity — a status that didn't exist until the Lateran Treaty of February 1929, which ended the so-called "Roman Question" that had left the papacy in a prolonged standoff with the Italian state since 1870. Pius XI, who had refused to leave the Vatican for the entirety of his pontificate up to that point, negotiated the settlement directly through Cardinal Gasparri and Mussolini's government.
The series ran across multiple annual issues through 1937, with mintage figures varying considerably year to year. The 1929 dated pieces carry particular historical weight as inaugural strikes of a newly recognized sovereign mint.