A family friend has these and wants me to sell them for him. There are four of them, all silver. They come in a case and have a certificate that describes them (in Italian). As best I can determine, it's with Pope Paul VI for some sort of jubilee and the date is 1975 but it was either made or sold in 1976. Seems to be a series of 500 made, and there were gold versions available but he just bought the silver ones. There's a 29 mm coin and three at 22 mm, and they have what I assume are religious buildings on them. It's from Galleria Savelli, which seems to be near the Vatican and sells religious souvenirs. I've come up empty on Google searches. Is there anyone who might be able to tell me anything else about them, and/or estimate the value? I don't know if this is a situation where it's just worth bullion or if it might be rarer and worth more with the limited mintage.
it’s a Jubilee year. Every 25 years and some other special occasions the pope declares a jubilee year. It’s a year emphasizing forgiveness of sins. Here is my example of a coin from the jubilee year of 1933-34 (1900th anniversary of Christ’s Cruxifixction).
The right medal depicts the Basilica of Saint Paul outside the Walls, the left Basilica of Saint Maria Maggiore, the bottom center the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, and the top center Saint Peter’s Basilica. All famous churches in the Vatican.
Thanks for the information. Now I have to figure out how much it might be worth. It's hard selling something like this because even if it is worth money it might take the right buyer, and if they don't happen to see it, it ends up selling for $10.
The Galleria Savelli medal company has been in business since 1898. My grandparents visited Rome in 1955 and saved this receipt for a religious medal. Vatican Medal receipt Pope Pius XII Commemorative medal for the Virgin Mary's coronation Roma - Piazza S. Pietro - "Savelli" We do not have the medal, possibly my grandmother gave it to someone.
Funny that Galleria Savelli asks, in the accompanying certificate, to be notified of any change of ownership. Christian
As mentioned, the medals commemorate the 1975 Holy or Jubilee year. Jubilee Years are actually mentioned in the old testament, but were first proclaimed by the popes in 1300 in part as a way to attract pilgrims to Rome and raise money for the church. They were initially irregularly proclaimed (1350, 1390, 1400, 1423, but the 25 year cycle pretty much settled down by 1450. For various reasons no Jubilees were proclaimed in a few recent years (1800, 1850 and I think 1875). Also as mentioned the reverses feature the 4 major Basilica of Rome, each of which play a role in the start and close of the special year. At any rate these are souvenir issues produced by a private commercial concern and not the Vatican itself so the market is somewhat limited. I primarily collect official medals and usually don't purchase private ones unless they're very interesting or relatively cheap - say a small % above melt. Some folks do collect these issues so you might get lucky on ebay, maybe in the religious collectibles area. Just MHO.
FWIW, several of these are listed among the 50 or so pages of private medals and the like in the 2012 CNORP volume covering Popes Paul and John Paul I. The St Peter issue is shown in gold of 2 sizes:28 and 15mm. The smaller silvers are listed only for S. Paul's Lateran and St Paul's outside the walls.
