Has any other member studied the mintmarks on the Euro coins? The Euro coins of Monaco are struck at the French Mint in Paris & have the usual Mintmaster's privy marks that flank the date,whereas,the Euro coins of San Marino & the Vatican City have the 'R' mintmark of the Italian Mint in Rome.The Luxembourgish Euro coins have the privy marks of the Mintmaster of the Royal Dutch Mint in Utrecht.The Euro coins from Spain have the usual crowned 'M' mintmark of the Royal Spanish Mint in Madrid.The Greek Euro coins are very interesting as they not only bear the distinctive mintmark of the Greek Mint in Athens,but some of the coins also contain letters hidden in one of the 12 stars on the obverse side.These probably indicate that the Greek Euro coins were struck at other mints.Have you taken a magnifying glass & had a look in the stars on the Greek Euro coins? The Luxembourgish Euro coins that I have in my collection not only bear the date '2002',but they also have the bow & arrow with star transitional privy mark,which indicates that they were actually struck in late October,November or December 2000.The German,Italian,French & Dutch Euro coins have the usual privy marks & mintmarks. The following countries do not have mintmarks on their Euro coins; Ireland,Austria,Belgium,& Portugal.
I wouldn't go as far as saying I have studied the mint marks on Euro's but have collected since their release in 2002. I am currently collecting silver commemorative euros and patiently waiting for the new countries to finally adopt the euro. I mainly concentrate on a full set (one cent thru two dollar coins in unc) from each country as that is what my album calls for. Have completed 5 or 6 sets for my family and collecting friends and after completing those went on my search for the silver euro. Have enjoyed every minute of it! I will point out that many of the countries, even though they had 1999, 2000 and 2001 to mint new euros failed to get the task done so they turned to other euro mints to help them out and many have continued to let the other mints strike their coins for one reason or another. Makes it interesting when you throw in all those mint mark varieties.
Terry,I have checked my Greek Euro coins.There are no letters hidden in the stars on the 1 Euro-Cent,2 Euro-Cent,& 5 Euro-Cent,& the 1 Euro coin.The letter 'F' appears in one of the stars on the 10 Euro-Cent & the 50 Euro-Cent.The 2 Euro is alone in having the letter 'S' in one of the stars.You should take your linen-tester magnifying glass & check ALL of your Euro coins.Who knows,you may discover an undiscovered mintmark,which will be of interest to the numismatic community.
May take a while until any of these countries issues "dollar" coins As for mints "helping out", well, some euro countries just do not have any mints - Luxembourg, for example, has its coins made in Utrecht (NL), and some of the Lux. euro commems were made in Stuttgart (DE) and Warsaw (PL). Monaco's coins are made in Pessac (FR), the ones from San Marino and the Vatican are made in Rome (IT). Greece was a special case: While all other countries started the coin production earlier (mid-1998 in France and Germany for example!) and introduced the euro on 1-Jan-1999, Greece was not part of the currency union until 1-Jan-2001. So they had to somehow make up for that "delay" in order to have their euro cash ready for €-Day on 1-Jan-2002 ... Christian
Here's a list of the privy marks that I have found on Euro coins; France; 1999 - Bee. 2000 - Bee. 2001 - Horseshoe. If you know what the privy marks on the French Euro coins are for 2002,2003,& 2004,please can you leave a posting. Greece; I have 3 coins that have letters hidden in the stars; 10 Euro-Cent - F. 50 Euro-Cent - F. & 2 Euro - S. If you have any more letters that have been found on the Greek Euro coins,please can you post a list of the letters & what denominations they have been found on. Netherlands; 1999 - Bow & Arrow. 2000 - Bow & Arrow with Star (Temporal privy mark). 2001 - 1/2 Leaf & Grapes. 2002 - 1/2 Leaf & Grapes with Star (Temporal privy mark). If you have any information about the privy marks on the Dutch Euro coins dated 2003 & 2004,please can you leave a posting. Luxembourg; 2002 -with Dutch 2000 privy mark. If you have got any Euro coin privy mark & mintmark varities,then you had better report them into Krause.The sooner that you email them,the better,as they need that information for the 2006 Edition of the Krause catalogue.
Here are some answers - mostly from a catalog (Fischer/Kahnt, Die Euro-Münzen), though ... 2002: The horseshoe again (engraver Gérard Buquoy) 2003: An "open heart", formed by the initials (SL) of the engraver Serge Levet. 2004: A combination of a hunting horn, a wave and a fish (engraver Hubert Larivière - the symbols are allusions to his name) The only Greek coins with such hidden letters are: 1ct/2ct/5ct/10ct 2002 F, 20ct 2002 E, 50ct 2002 F, 1€/2€ 2002 S. E is short for España (mint: RCM/FNMT Madrid), F is short for France (mint: MdP Pessac), S is short for Suomi (mint: Rahapaja/Finnish Mint, Vantaa). Greek coins without such letters were/are minted by the Greek National Mint. 2003/2004 (both Netherlands and Luxembourg): Stylized Sails Christian
Christian,thank you for that.Do you know the privy mark varities for the Luxembourgish Euro coins bearing the date '2002' in addition to the Dutch 2000 privy mark as mentioned above?
Belgium had such mint marks on its franc/frank coins but now uses them on commems only. A tiny head with a cross, hardly recognizable, represents the mint; the scales symbol refers to the mint director Romain Coenen. Portugal does not really a mint "mark" on the euro coins. But the abbreviation INCM which on the circulation pieces can be founded at the four o'clock position, so to say, is short for "Imprensa Nacional - Casa da Moeda". Christian
Christian,I am familiar with the Belgian privy marks on the Franc/Franc coins.Has Belgium issued any commemorative Euro coins?
Don't think there are any others. All the "2002" coins from Luxembourg that I have show the leaf/grapes/star sign, and that catalog does not mention any others for 2002 either ... Four silver €10 coins so far, and four gold coins (1x50, 3x100 euro). These collectors coins* are issued as proof pieces only. None of them, not even the silver coins, could/can be purchased at face value. Later this year, Belgium and Luxembourg plan to issue a combined €2 commem featuring both Albert and Henri. * In EU Legalese, the term "commemorative coins" applies to those special €2 pieces only, while the others are called "collectors coins". Don't know how widespread that terminology is among collectors, though Christian
Christian,what was the purpose of the recent issue for the recent commemorative Luxembourgish 2 Euro coin? I notice that it is the first Euro coin to bear Grand Duke Henri's full title as Grand Duke of Luxembourg.
In 1924 Luxembourg issued coins with the monogram of Grand Duchess Charlotte. The €2 "monogram coin", minted 80 years later, is supposed to be a continuation of that tradition. However, 2004 also marked the 150th anniversary of grand ducal coinage, which was the theme of the annual circulation coin set. So maybe that could be considered a second reason for issuing this special €2 coin ... The Central Bank of Luxembourg has a trilingual "catalog of numismatic products" (PDF document) online: http://www.bcl.lu/fr/monnaie/numismatique/catalogue_numismatique.pdf See page 7 for an English language description of that €2 monogram coin. (Note that the price of €8 refers to the "coin card" depicted; the raw piece was, and maybe still is, available at face value.) The 2004 coin set that I mentioned above is described on page 4. Christian
Christian,that was a very interesting link you have posted there.No doubt that when (& if) you get any of the commemorative 2 Euro coins,you will hang on to them.As to the Luxembourgish coins of 1924, I have got the 5 Centimes.1924 is also the year that the abdicated (& unmarried) Grand Duchess Marie Adelaide died.
Christian,I finally managed to get my first 2003 French Euro coin - the 2 Euro Cents.You are right, as it has a heart privy mark.
I am now only collecting the Irish Euro coin series.They don't have any mintmarks at all,but I do know that they were struck at the Irish Mint in Dublin. Aidan.
Well, most of them are. The Irish central bank has its coins produced elsewhere too - by the Royal Mint for example (1 cent and 5 cent 2002 were made in IE and the UK), and by the Finnish mint (2006 proof sets). The Irish euro collector coins have been made in Karlsfeld (Mayer Mint) and Pessac (Monnaie de Paris) but none of the coins has a mint mark. Christian
Christian,you will be pleased to know that Ireland's Ivan Mestrovic commemorative silver Proof 15 Euros medal-coin was struck at the Croatian Mint in Zagreb,which also does not use a mintmark. Aidan.
Side note: The Mint of Finland (Rahapaja) used to have a mintmaster mark on Finnish euro coins: "M" for Raimo Makkonen. The country's new coins have the mint logo instead. Christian
