In the latest issue of MünzenRevue there is an interesting ad: The Vatican's Numismatic Office (UFN) warns, on half a page, against coin dealers who claim to be authorized distributors of Vatican coins.



It states that there are no such distributors, and that any company that uses the UFN and/or Vatican logo may be sued. I wonder which dealer/s might have been the reason for that announcement ...

Christian

lol - I don't know why though. hmm...

I guess there must be a lot of dealers who claim to be one but faking the whole thing. I don't know why though... maybe because dealers can sell a lot more than what the Vatican mint is offering and hence causing a lot of problems?

Some heretics will be burned in hell if they don't remove the Holy coat of arms from their advertisements...

Ha, I just learned what that UFN warning might refer to. Here is a picture of a "certificate" that a German coin store sent to its customers ...

http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/8761/wa...vatikan41to.jpg

Note that it says "Distributor for the Federal Republic of Germany" and refers to a "direct distribution" price of €495 ( ). That company for example (gfmshop.de) may soon be in trouble, Roman Catholic or not, hehe.

Christian

495 euros?!?!?!? That sounds horribly expensive!!! And that is for one proof set?

Many of the sets in recent years have sold for well over $1,000 on the secondary market.

No, that is for a BU set. The official issue price was €30 but due to the low mintage (only 60,000 sets) that Sede Vacante set was sold out very quickly. (In this case, the Vatican/UFN did not issue a proof set at all.)

The last John Paul II set, issued earlier this year, had a mintage of 85,000 unc. (UFN price €23) and 16,000 proof (€125). And yes, prices are considerably higher if you cannot buy directly from the UFN ... I suppose that next year the Vatican euro craze will be about as bad, at least here in Germany - that is when the first coins featuring the new Pope will be issued. In a few years things will hopefully calm down.

As for the €495 price, well, HSE24 (the German version of HSN so to say) charges even more:
http://www.hse24.de/Product-ID1525483.html
Not exactly surprising; shopping channels are often expensive when it comes to coins. But the point is, HSE24 and most other sellers do not claim to be official distributors ...

Christian

Hmmm....the recent Finnish eruo proof sets have a mintage of only a few thousand. Too bad they are not worth hundreds of euros.