Medal Vatican City The Catholic Popes

Beloved by multitudes, the Roman Catholic popes are often commemorated on coin-like objects. These medals or medallions contain hundreds of different designs and inscriptions, and many are quite beautiful and elegant.

Inquirer 3Cats apparently has a papal medal for Pope Innocent (Innocentivs, Innocentius) the twelfth (XII), who occupied the seat of Saint Peter, who walked with Jesus and who Catholics honor as the original Pope, from 1691 to 1700.

Whether or not the Innocent XII medal was minted back in the 1690s is unknown. Papal medals, like all medals, rarely carry dates. If it is in fact that old, it could be worth a substantial amount of money. Perhaps $300 to $500 US dollars. If it is modern, which is far more likely, it is worth its weight in precious metal.

CoinQuest cannot evaluate individual medals, but we can provide some guidance. Go to eBay and do a search on 'papal medals.' You will see many different examples for sale, and you can get an idea of value from the sale prices. Remember these are retail prices, so a merchant buying a medal from you will probably pay about one-half retail.

Retail prices run from about $30 to about $600, depending on age, condition, and precious metal content. Modern (post-1948) medals will be worth their weight in precious metal. A jeweler can determine gold or silver content of your medal. A typical silver medal has about one troy ounce of silver. Look up the current price of silver at kitco.com. If your modern medal is in exceptionally good condition, it can be worth a few US dollars more than silver content.

Another good web site with plenty of info is (no surprise) Vatican Coins. You might want to contact them for further information and a better estimate of value.
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