time to rejoice folks hip hip hooray French Mint 2009 The French Mint has published its program for 2009, with the following highlights: • Regular silver proof coins will change from €1.5 to €10 • 5 oz. silver proof coins will change from €20 to €50 • Regular silver BU coins will change from €1/4 to €5 • 1/4 oz. gold proof coins will change from €10 to €50 • 1/2 oz. gold proof coins will change from €20 to €100 • 1 oz. gold proof coins will change from €50 to €200 • They will introduce 1 kilo, 10 oz. and 5 oz. gold coins, as well as 2 oz. silver coins • Continuation of the circulating precious metal coins • The Sower issues will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the European Court of Human Rights • The Europa issues will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the dismantling of the Berlin Wall • The eurostar issue will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first flight of the Concorde airplane • Issues to honor Gustave Eiffel, Ettore Bugatti, Curie Institute, Kremlin, International year of Astronomy, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Year of the Tiger, the cartoon Lucky Luke, Stade Francais arena, Olympique Lyonnais sporting club, and the Alpine Skiing World Championships in Val d'Isere
In addition to all those pieces that the Monnaie de Paris makes solely for collectors there will also be a commemorative €2 coin. That is part of the joint "Euro 10 Years" coin which will be issued by the euro area member states. Here is the German version; the basic design will be the same for all 16 countries. Christian
Geez, with all their money, you think they'd spend a little more for a better artist... but this artist is clearly from one of the better art schools (I mean pre-schools) in Germany.
What makes you believe that Georgios Stamatopoulos (whose design won the public EU-wide vote back in February) is German? I don't like the design much either, but among the five proposals, that one was the best according to those who voted. Oh well. Contrary to all those collector coins listed in the first post, however, this commemorative coin will actually be legal tender throughout the euro area. Also, apart from the "circulating precious metal coins" (yeah, sure they will "circulate" ) it is the only one from France that is issued at face. Christian
Have just had a closer look at the 2009 program. Whew - seems that two of the coins will have a maximum mintage of 20. (Yes, twenty.) In one case it says "à confirmer", so that decision is not final yet. http://www.monnaiedeparis.fr/presse/ProgrammeMonétaire09.pdf And no, I do not need a 10 oz gold coin. :whistle: Christian
I always thought that the 1oz coins at €1.5 face was a little stupid. €10 is like...melt price nearly. Silver Price today = $17.4 = €11.2
I see, so I take it that's the common face for all the members of the EU and a unique side for each country? I just said the artist was German because you said this was the German version... maybe I misread that. Either way, don't mind me and my stupid jokes... Here in Canada we did have a quarter released with images drawn by kids, but this is the first coin I've ever seen with an actual stickman in the design.
That 1 kg gold coin (Kremlin) is so ... common. Its mintage will be about twice as high - almost 40. Nah, not exclusive enough. And yes, the €1.50 pieces are odd indeed. But, like the US silver dollars, they cost roughly 30 times the face value anyway, and are not used in circulation. As for that €2 design, that coin is a joint issue, so not only the reverse (map of Europe) will be the same but also the "stickman" plus the euro symbol on the other side. What differs from country to country is the name of the issuing member state and the different spellings of EMU, ie. WWU in German, UEM in French, etc. With the normal €2 commems that is different - each country has its own obverse designs. Then again that does not mean you get great results. This year's French €2 for example ... http://www.zwei-euro.com/2-euro/frankreich/2008/gross.jpg Christian
What Doug said. The French mint has actually reduced its issue program (it used to be worse until 2007), but in my opinion they still make too many different issues. Well, once in a while I still buy a Monnaie de Paris collector coin. I just wonder whether less (issues) could be more (collectors). And yes, Aslanmia, the Canadian mint is about as, umm, prolific. Quite a few nice designs, innovative minting technologies, but I wonder when they will start making personal coins with custom designs ... Christian
