Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
500 Liras Pope John Paul II
| Issuer | Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta |
|---|---|
| Year | 2003 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 Liras |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | JUBILAEUM A.D. 2000 POPE JOHN PAUL II |
| Reverse description | Central device depicting the heraldic seal of the Knights of Malta, comprising a Maltese cross set within a circular shield, surmounted by a sovereign crown and encircled by a laurel wreath, with a scroll below bearing the legend KNIGHTS OF MALTA. The date 2003 appears divided at lower left and right of the central device, flanked by the initials O.S.J. The denomination 500 LIRAS and the fineness mark 1oz SILVER 999 are inscribed along the lower field. The surrounding legend SOVRANO OSPEDALIERO ORDINE DI MALTA runs along the upper periphery against a mirror-polished field. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta issues coins under a legal framework that often surprises collectors: despite having no sovereign territory beyond its Rome headquarters since losing Malta to Napoleon in 1798, it retains recognized minting authority acknowledged by over a hundred states. These issues circulate nowhere and are produced entirely for the numismatic market.
The selective gold plating on the portrait — applied only to that area of an otherwise silver field — was a technique gaining commercial traction in commemorative issues of the early 2000s, borrowed largely from the Franklin Mint school of presentation coinage.