Vatican Book

Cladiator

I know the coins are all covered in the Krause but that thing is a serious brick to haul around. Are there any books dedicated only to Vatican coinage?

harasha

Papal Coins, by Allen Berman.

STLNATS

Here's 4 that come to mind:

Allen Berman's Papal Coins (1991). Covers the whole series, but does not distinguish the varieties, is a bit older, and only has a single price per coin. Basic gotta have handbook, but don't know what level of detail you want.

Bobba's Monete Papali: Stato Pntificio e Citta del Vaticano. I have an old one of these, covers ~1800 & up. You see occassionally on ebay. In Italian

Sadow & Sarro's The Coins & Medals of the Vatican. Covers 1929 to late 1970s. Durst printed in 1978.

Muntoni's Le Montet dei Papi e Degli Stati Pontifici. 4 volumes, Very limited reprint in 1996 (cost me ~$800 which I thought was a bargain) In Italian but THE definitive work.

Aethelred

I have the book by Berman, it is the best thing out there right now.

Iosephus

I have both the Berman book and the Sadow & Sarro book. Berman's book is quite good, though like STLNATS said, it does not cover the different varieties for each major type. The S&S book is excellent if you are interested in the coins of Vatican City from 1929 through 1975. It contains detailed information about each coin from each year, such as mintage, metal type, diameter, and pictures. It also has the advantage of including the official annual medals for these years.

A third useful book that I have is "Coins of the Popes" by Joseph Cotton, published in 1946. Though not a catalog of coins like Berman's book, it has useful background information about different symbols commonly found, as well as translations of the different Latin phrases found on the coins.

STLNATS

I'm glad you mentioned the Cotton book Iosephus. It was the second one I had (S & S was first) and has a ton of great background including a translation of most of the legends on the reverses of coins. It comes up occassionally and is usually cheap so is a great buy.

S & S has good technical info not found easily elsewhere. The problem is that if you're interested in post 1978 coins you're SOL.

Iosephus

<< <i>The problem is that if you're interested in post 1978 coins you're SOL. >>


This is definitely true in regards to books in English. However, I have seen online a book titled "Monete e medaglie annuali di Giovanni Paolo II" by Stefano Di Virgilio. I have not yet acquired a copy of this book, so I don't know exactly what information it contains, but it could be useful for the coins of 1978 - 2005. Obviously, it's in Italian, so that is a downside (at least for me).