There doesn't seem to be many of the Elizabeth II commemorative sets out there, and the price is all over the place. Are there just buckets of them ready to be brought out of a warehouse once interest peaks with her abdication to her sone or William? I wonder the same about the 2002 vatican Euro set with Pope Jon paul and sainthood. Would we have to go back to roman days of Saint constantine to have a saint on a coin that was not commemorative? of course vatican coins aren't reallyin circulation so....
Both the plastic (Unc) and proof sets of 1953 are common. There were 40,000 proof sets minted, and over 1 million of the plastic sets issued. The 1d was only minted for these sets, so any found in circulation (and they did turn up) were from sets broken up (probably by kids wanting sweetie money!). I don't think there are warehouse amounts of these hidden away! In fact, usually the first year of a monarch's reign's coins are common, as occurred in 1902, 1911, 1937 and 1953. It is the year after that rareties tend to occur (such as good Unc examples of 1903, 1938 and 1954 coins).
As for the Vatican, Pius V (16th century) later was canonized, and I think that during his pontificate coins were issued. If John Paul II is canonized (and apparently the Roman Catholic Church wants to do that fairly fast), the 2002 coins may become even more expensive. On the other hand, the 2003, 2004 and 2005 sets show him as well, and are less pricy. By the way, the Vatican does issue coins for circulation. Not all denominations though, and they did not do that before 2010. So that would not affect JPII coins ... Christian
