Ok, so the US has the Silver Eagle. Canada has got the Maple Leaf, Mexico the Libertad. Somalia has the Elephant, Armenia has the Noah's Ark. What about Europe? It's just Austria with the Philharmonic. Germany, France, Italy, Spain, all these great countries, how come they don't mint their own coins?
The Elephant and the Noah's Ark are actually minted in Germany, if that helps you. France is busy making great wine; Italy is busy making great cheese and Spain is busy making great ham. No time left for coins I suppose.
The Royal Mint of England does a pretty good job as well with their multi dominations silver coins. They even change the design periodically to help keep things fresh.
Poland has gold bullion coins in very low mintages and they carry the potential for a hefty collector mark up. I believe Poland is 6th in world silver exports and they do not mess around with a silver bullion product. The majority of their silver collector coins are .925, high mintage and valued at close to spot.
The Russia St. George and the Dragon coin pictured above was a great coin, but they haven't been produced for a couple of years now.
The Silver Eagle is so widely recognized that I have not bothered with European bullion. But I also collect Pandas, Maple Leaves and Libertads for diversification, and will occasionally buy a Kookaburra as a gift. I really like European junk silver, though -- Russian roubles and Napoleon Bonaparte 5 francs, especially.
Umm, they do - just not bullion pieces. Of course these four issue gold coins, but those are surcharged collector coins. France does an interesting thing in that the mint issues "gold and silver at face" from time to time. Sure, the face value is quite a bit higher than the intrinsic value at the time of issue. But at least you don't lose any money - you pay, for example, 1000 euro for a €1,000 gold piece (17g Au999) and can always get that amount back. If I wanted to have a euro denominated bullion piece (in the narrow sense of the term), I could simply buy an Austrian one. (The Austrian Mint is the only one in the euro area that does this bullion thing.) Their latest project, from what I have read, is a 1/25 oz gold piece with a €4 nominal value ... Christian
Howdy, You've mentioned most all of them but check the Royal Mint and also Popjoy. The Britannias are gorgeous and there's always the Isle of Man cats. Some of this is modern and some older. http://www.cointalk.com/threads/europe-coins.239733/ peace, rono
