You can also buy rather nice albums to house the coins in Also be aware that the German coins are issued from 5 different mints (5 sets per issue )
Thanks for that tip! I've also noticed that participating countries change the design on their coins as well so while each country has its own specific Euro I guess they also have different designs? This would seem to add up to a lot of Euro folders...
You can buy a album strictly for 2 euro commems and a couple more for the regular country issues 1c to 2 euro the designs on those do not change that often (the date does of course) check out the LIGHTHOUSE range at your local coin shop
I was confused about the designs because of what I had found in my wife's change wallet (she'd been holding out on me!) The designs are the same but since the Euro is used throughout the union I got confused. Apparently I can now add Austria, Belgium and Portugal to the German ones I have in my collection!
Grab the Euro`s while you can, I see a lot of scrap metal appearing in Euroland soon. Greece went bust, Ireland is on the brink, Portugal and Spain are next for bailouts. The days of the Euro single currency are numbered.
I was just discussing with my wife the opportunity I have now that we are in Germany for collecting Euro and she was mostly not paying attention til I mentioned I wanted to collect the paper currency as well all the way from 5-500 Her head turned pretty quick on that one!
As I started with euro coins collecting year ago, it was funny to try coins from circulation. I find all euro counties expect Vatican,Monaco,San Marino. But if you like, there are plenty of varieties and errors on euro coins. If you want UNC coins, there are several ways.Going to Banks and change for paper money or buy at collector's store. Some euro coins are very hard to find in circulation.
Who knows. I have been reading for more than ten years that the euro won't work, that its days are numbered, etc. etc. Usually such comments come from the US and the UK ... I wonder why. Of course it may one day come to an end, but I guess that end is not quite as near as many in the Anglo-Saxon world seem to hope. As for the coins that have been issued so far (in terms of circulation pieces and commemorative €2 coins), they are all depicted here http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/euro/cash/coins/index_en.htm (see the "Common sides", "National sides" and "Commemorative Coins" links). Christian
Don't know how many bank note printers there are in England. But only one printer in the UK (De La Rue) also makes euro notes. And yes, euro notes may well be printed by a company that is not located in the country of the issuing bank. The Bundesbank (DE) for example recently decided that the notes it commissions will be printed by Joh. Enschedé (NL), F.C. Oberthur (FR) and Giesecke & Devrient (DE) next year. Christian
Back in the very beginning the Bank of England Printer Works - Essex printed some euro notes to verify that they could meet the standards. The printer code was "A". I don't know if the entire production was destroyed or they ended up somewhere in circulation. I gave up collecting euros in 2001 due to the difficulty of obtaining the varieties I wanted. Greece was interesting back then. Their coins were made in Greece - no mint mark, France - F, Spain - E and Finland - S. Greek notes (serial prefix - Y) were printed in Greece - N, Netherlands - G, Austria - F and Germany - P and R.
Probably the former. Here is a list of printers from EuroBillTracker (similar to WheresGeorge); of course it only has notes that users have entered, but I don't see any printers beyond the 14 that are officially involved in the printing of euro notes: http://en.eurobilltracker.eu/notes/?command=8;tab=3 But who knows, sh*t happens. These days, for example, some people already sell or have Estonian euro coins, even though the starter kits will not be available until 1 December, and the country will not officially use the euro until 1 January. Why can't collectors be more patient ... Christian
Here are some more assigned printer codes from 2001. No notes exist that I know of. These contries do not use Euros, YET. A United Kingdom - Bank of England Printing Works C Sweden - AB Tumba Bank S Denmark - Danmarks Nationalbank Have Luxembourg notes, serial number prefix - R, ever shown up? They were missing at the beginning.
Are these Estonian coins for sale now, real or fantasies? The last time I looked, Vatican City coin offerings on Ebay were by far mostly fantasies as can be seen at the cheap price they go for.
Denmark and the UK may have been assigned printer codes, but since the two have an opt-out, it is kind of silly to not use those codes for other central banks. Then again, so far there still are a few letters of the alphabet left. Sweden is, like any other EU member except those two, theoretically obliged to introduce the euro at some point. But why even try and force anybody in? If Poland, Sweden or the Czech Republic for example would rather want to stay out, fine. As for Luxembourg, no, there are no "R" notes. They simply use the central bank codes of wherever they have their notes printed. Fortunately Estonia is not the Vatican. In about a week from now, the starter kits for the general public will be available. The pieces that can be had now are from commercial "kits" as far as I know ("frontloading" to businesses). There may be fantasy sets - especially since the real pieces are somewhat dull, hehe - but it won't be necessary to pay high prices for the actual coins. Christian
Here is an Wickipedia article on Euro notes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_banknotes#Serial_number
Are there any books or online guides to grading Euro coins? Like how they have them for US coins (ie. the liberty for IHC's)? Just something that can give me a better or more specific way to look at and evaluate which ones to keep.
They have all sorts of books on euro coins. Unfortunately, most of them aren't in english or easily available in the US.
