Tell Me About Euros!

The Euro was adopted by the European Union in the late 90's. Each of the Euro member nations were granted permission to start striking the euro in 1999 even though the official release would be in 2002. So they were minted for 3 years, as they had to replace ALL coin and currency currently in circulation, in each member country. They must strike a one cent, Two Cent, five cent, ten cent, Twenty Cent, fifty cent, one dollar and a two dollar coin. Each country MUST use the same design on the obverse but are free to use their own design on the reverse (or vise versa as that has slipped my mind at the moment). Initially there were 15 member countries: Austria, the Netherlands, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Luxemburg, Belgium, Finland and Italy chose to adopt the euro. Great Britain remains with the pound but must accept the euro in transactions within their nation. Three satellite nations, so to speak, also went with the euro and those are Vatican City, Monacco and San Marino. Those three nations are allowed to produce very small quanities of coinage thus the value of their coinage has risen very rapidly. Most Vatican City coins (even the cents) are valued at $100 and up. Each country can also produce commemorative coinage and most are striking circulating commemorative $2 coins in addition to there regular silver issues. They may strike the silver and gold coins in denominations of there own choosing. Spain produces $12 euro coins while others may do $5, $10, $25 and even an $8 coin. France will do 1/4 euro commemoratives and have done other odd denominations such as 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 euro. Many of the euro nations will release their silver commemoratives at face value thru their banking or postal systems so it makes their silver a very attractive buy compared to our $33 to $35 commemoratives here. I started collecting the circulating coins in 2002 and after completing 5 or 6 Dansco albums for my family and friends I turned to the silver commemorative for the history, culture and of course, cheap silver. In the past four years I have built a very reliable network of friends and collectors in Europe who trade or sell the coins to me. I NEVER EVER turn down any euro offered so I receive a great number of duplicates and have started passing them on to collectors here in the states, at my cost, just to get my money back and to help other collectors get started with the euro.
When I started in 2002 the dollar was worth about 30 cents more, per dollar, than the euro. Now I must pay .20 to .25 more per dollar as the euro increased in value as the dollar slipped world wide. Still the silver is much cheaper per coin in uncirculated condition, or BU as the Europeans call it, than the proofs. A few of the countries charged outrageous prices for their coins so I have to limit myself to what I pick up there.
Some of the Euro nations do not use the one cent or Two Cent coins so they are struck and sold to collectors only and their value tends to rise quickly as well! Other nations are talking of dropping the small coins so a great number of collectors concentrate on the smaller denominations. I have a Finnish collector send me rolls of the one cent and Two Cent coins each year (almost) and just put them away. The 2002 coins reached $60 per roll before settling down a bit. Many of the commemoratives are made in very limited quanities and they too rise in value very quickly. One example would be the Austrian Niobium coins. They are bimetallic and the color of the Niobium can be controlled so we have seen a green core, blue core and a purple core coin in the last 3 years. These sell out very rapidly! The Netherlands have produced coins that have the entire face of the coin in multiple holograms and the design changes by tilting the coin!
Well I hope this helps you out a bit? If you are interested in any of my extras from time to time feel free to email or watch for my posts to sell. One thing is for certain, since I started collecting euro coinage, I have learned more European history than I was ever taught in school.

Oh, I might add that 10 more nations have joined the EU and, when they meet requirements, they too will be striking the euro for their respective nations. Probably 2 of them in 2006 or 2007 so we will be chasing a few new euro coins in the next year to year and a half! The other nations will follow but it will be a while!

No! As a matter of fact the British Royal Mint and the British government have announced a competition for new designs for all their coinage so they are sticking with the Pound system. There is no danger of them switching to the euro any time in the near future and quite honestly, with their money being the top dog in the world, I never see them switching to the euro. Guess time will tell as it appears the Pound and Brittania is here to stay! I got no problems with that!

I stopped being intrested when they switched from ECU to EURO
Like with postage stamps around 1970 suddenly came proliferation

The pic I show is from a proof
Proofs are marqued qp
Of the non proofs there are 1 500 000 often being offered as rare [:0]

hmmm, had a reply posted, but had a problem! Here goes again.

Wow, thanks Terry for the in depth analysis of the Euro. I'm sure it was helpful to a lot of other forum members as well. A couple of follow up questions: When the date came for the Euro to officially replace the currency of a given country, were people then lined up at the banks to do an exchange, or does some of a country's original coinage still circulate? Was there a devaluation with such an exchange? Is the design on the different denominations the same(cent, 2 cent, 20 cent, 1 Euro, etc.)? Does the design change from year to year? Would it be possible to see a scan or pic of a Euro obverse? It sounds like you did well to get in on the ground floor. I'm sure it will be financially rewarding besides the reward of historical knowledge gained. Incidentally, I would like to be informed when you have some extras for sale.

Adobero
I think every country used a different approach
In belgium people could get a starters pack one month
before januari 1st ( It was the complete one cent to 2 euro pack )
And from midnight on the bankautomats started spewing out Eurobills
instead of coins
I seem to remember both coexisted for only 3 months
I recently found some bills ( worht 25$ ) and was told by my bank that only the national bank will still change them

So ageka, Do you still have BOTH of those proofs and could one be for sale? Also would like to know more about it. Size, weight and "current value" Feel free to do a PM if you like. Sure is a great looking coin!

Sorry it is one of these sites that only get homepage
Click on king Boudewijn left and then scroll down to the 50 ecu coins and click there again

My understanding is the young folks were more accepting than the middle-aged and senior citizens but none the less the euro was adopted.


We had no choice but to accept the euro
I see a lot of older people that after 4 years still
give their purse to the bakery or butcher or whomever and tell
him to fish out any exact amount he needs