Commemorative Euros, what would you do?

I have the chance to buy the following coins from Portugal at face value, but my budget is limited and I can choose no more than 25 EU. Which ones should I take ?

5 euro 2003 Portugal's 1st stamp
5 euro 2004 Christ convent in Tomar
5 euro 2004 Evora's historical centre
5 euro 2006 Sintra's cultural landscape
8 euro 2004 European union enlargement
8 euro 2005 60th anniversary of end of 2nd world war
8 euro 2007 Bartolomeu de Gusmão - "passarola"
10 euro 2004 Athens olympics
10 euro 2005 Porto's cathedral
10 euro 2006 20 years of Portugal in EU
10 euro 2007 Sailing world championships

 

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I'd buy the ones that I find the most visually pleasing and not be concerned about rarity.

 

I would agree for me it is allways the look of the coin that comes first, but in the end the choice is up to you :thumb: Dont forget you could end up been even more confused by our responses as each collector has differing priorities Good luck with whatever choice you do make :thumb:

 

I would chose the coins that would catch my eye. Some other folks may check the production figures and chose the coins with the low mintage hoping that the coins will go up in price in the future.

Lou

 

You need to lay the coins out in front of you and spin yourself around in a circle for about 20 seconds and the first coins to come back into to focus are the ones you want.

But seriously this is probably the best advice there is. This way you always have coins that will make you happy no matter what their future value is.

 

As you may have read before, pick the ones you like best. Mintage of these pieces is 300,000 each, with a few exceptions (see below), but none of them is "rare" ...

5 euro 2006 Sintra's cultural landscape - 82,000
8 euro 2007 Bartolomeu de Gusmão - "passarola" - 82,000
10 euro 2004 Athens olympics - 350,000
10 euro 2006 20 years of Portugal in EU - 250,000
10 euro 2007 Sailing world championships - 82,000

As for the "20 years in the EU" coin, that is interesting because Spain issued a piece with the same design ... except the Spanish coin is much more expensive. You could focus on the Unesco Cultural Heritage series, for example - that would be Tomar and Évora (2005), Batalha and Angra do Heroismo (2006), Alcobaça and Sintra (2007). Get some now, and the rest maybe later.

Christian

 

If you have a deep desire for religiously oriented coins, you could always go with

• 5 euro 2004 Christ convent in Tomar
• 8 euro 2007 Bartolomeu de Gusmão - "passarola"
• 10 euro 2005 Porto's cathedral

On the other hand, if you want to avoid religious subjects, you can narrow your choices by removing those three from your list.

 

Good suggestion. But the B. de Gusmão coin does not really have a religious theme. It's part of the euro-star 2007 series ("European Achievements") and shows the Passarola: http://www.incm.pt/imagens/1013672.jpg

Christian

 

Well, Father de Gusmão was first and foremost a priest, so he certainly fits a religious theme, even though he could also justifiably be included in scientific and other themes.

 

Many thanks for your answers. I really have to look at the coins to decide! Is there any website to see these coins ? The dealer is in Portugal.

 

The Portuguese Mint (INCM) does not have a complete list of all its euro collector coins; by and large they show what they sell ... Here are two other sites that have some images:

http://www.moedas.org/
Click on "Moedas Portuguesas" -> "República-Euro" -> "Comemorativas" - that site lists various 2003, 2004, and 2005 issues.

http://www.emuenzen.de/verkauf/kat89land541.html
That is the website of a dealer in Germany, so the descriptions are in German. But I guess you can figure out anyway which is what coin ...

Christian

 

As everybody is saying, just pick the ones you like...:smile

Christian, the INCM remove the coins from their shop online just a few weeks after they were sold out and BTW, the mintage for the "Passarola", "Vela" and "Escutismo" is only 70.000.


Jose

 

Hello,

Maybe could you try this link :
http://boutique.europassion.org/moduleboutique/indexboutique.asp

Cucumbor

 

Ah, interesting. My source was the Schön catalog which says "82 000" for those three (regular version), and since there was no "max." (which he adds when referring to the maximum authorized), I assumed that was the actual mintage. Maybe I should drop him a note ... Thanks!

Christian

 

INCM have obviously changed their plans during the year.
Thanks for letting me know.

Gerhard

 

Collecting commemorative Euros

When "commemorative" Euros you should be aware that these coins are only usable within the country of issue, not throughout the Euro community.

 

Actually the "commemorative" euro coins are legal tender in all of Euroland. It's the "collector coins" that have those limitations. http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/euro/notes_and_coins/coins_types_en.htm

But you are right, these Portuguese collector coins are legal tender in Portugal only. But as the Ag500 pieces can be had at face value ... Oh, and - welcome to Coin Talk!

Christian

 

BTW, how to check for regular PT euro commem coins details:

- Go to: http://www.incm.pt/servlets/search
- Search for the following strings; "5 euro", "8 euro", "10 euro" or "ouro" (fill the "Texto de pesquisa" field and hit "OK")
- Click on the links with the description: ".................. - Prata normal"
- ...and that's it!

Jose

 

Finally, I got these.... plus a "Schoenbrunn Zoo" 5 Euro from Austria

 

Good choice if that is what you really wanted. But I only count up to 20€