Vatican City continues its Art & Faith series of copper €20 coins in 2024 with an issue featuring Saint Peter and the rooster.

The series began in 2020 with a €10 coin depicting the Pietà, a marble sculpture created by Michelangelo Buonarroti. It continued in 2021 with a €20 coin depicting the bronze statue of St. Peter in the Vatican, and in 2022 showed the dome of Saint Peter’s Basilica on another €20 coin.

The 2023 €20 coin featured Michelangelo’s  famous painting The Creation of Adam.

Sculptor Daniela Fusco designed the 2024 coin, which was engraved by Claudia Momoni, and struck at the Italian State Mint.

2024 design details

The reverse shows in the foreground the Rooster of Saint Peter — a bronze statue preserved in the Treasury Museum of Saint Peter’s Basilica — and in the background an image of the Apostle Peter.

The rooster is associated with the Apostle Peter since Jesus’ prophetic words to him: “Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.” (Luke 22:34, 57-60).

The episode is recounted in all four Gospels’ accounts of Jesus’ arrest, when Peter is overcome with fear and denies knowing Jesus, only to repent and weep bitterly over it.

The artist also depicts Peter with keys in his hand, reflecting Jesus promise to him, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19).

The common obverse depicts the coat of arms of Vatican City.

Proof and Brilliant Uncirculated versions are issued for each design. The coins weigh 15 grams and measure 32 millimeters in diameter. The Brilliant Uncirculated version has a mintage limit of 15,000 pieces is packaged in a colorful box. The Proof version’s mintage is limited to 3,000 coins.

Distributor Royal Scandinavian Mint, a private coin agent, offers the Brilliant Uncirculated version for $46.15 U.S.

To order or learn more, visit the firm’s website, www.rsmint.com.

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