Hi I know the Euros started at 2002, but I found a 5 Euro coin in 1997 from Portugal. There is a similar 1998 5 Euro coin (http://www.ngccoin.com/poplookup/Wo...mSearch=true)but I can not find this 1997 one from any catalog. Does anyone have any idea about it?
Those are medals rather than coins. The currency union started on 1-Jan-1999, so the earliest "actual" euro and cent coins are dated 1999. (The euro cash did, as you wrote, not become legal tender until Jan-2002.) These pieces - there are several designs - were issued by the Portuguese mint INCM but have never been legal tender. If you search the web for the name of the series, "As Maes da Europa" (The Mothers of Europe), you will find a few more ...
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