I was looking on ebay at the euro pattern sets, because I was thinking I might start trying to get a set from the first year of issue for each new EU state. Anyway, I came accross these "Euro Pattern Prototype Sets" which I have no clue what they are. The descriptions on the auctions was nil, and since they had a UK Euro pattern prototype set, and I don't remember the UK using the Euro last time I was there ( About a year ago) I was confused. What's going on with this stuff? Thanks for the info.
Euro coin pattern sets have nothing to do with 'real' euro coins. These are sets with fantasy coins, made by private issuers to get some money from inexperienced collectors. These pattern sets exist for many countries which are not yet in the euro-zone, like Poland, UK, Denmark, Gibraltar, Isle of Man and others. They also exist for the Vatican or for countries soon entering the eurozone, like Malta and Cyprus. But, as I already stated, these pattern euros are NO COINS, nor have ANY LEGAL STATUS. They don't even reflect what the euros of those countries could be like, because the official issuing authorities have nothing to do with those issues. In fact these sets only contain sort of private-issued medals. If you want to collect real euros, it is best to stick to the official sets of the 16 countries which are at the moment in the euro-zone: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and the small countries San Marino, Monaco and the Vatican.
They are not coins (see the other replies) but some of these medals are nicely designed. So if you come across any that you like, and don't mind collecting medals, why not get them if the price is OK? Just keep in mind that those "pattern" pieces are not in any way "official" issues, and not legal tender anyway. Here is a page that lists and displays many of them: http://ret001qm.eresmas.net/eu-ingle.htm Christian
