I just ran across a Portugese 1 euro cent coin dated 2001. I can't find it listed in my copy o the Standard Catalog of World Coins. The catalog as well as a search of the web only show Portugal using the euro starting on 1 January 2002, and say that's when they started minting them. Does anyone know if this is so? If not, do I have an unusual coin with some value to it?...Thanks for looking.....Bill
Production of the euro coins began in mid-1998. The euro was introduced as a currency on 1 January 1999, and the cash became legal tender on 1 January 2002. That is why, among the "initial" euro countries, some picked 1999 as the first year to appear on the coins, while others picked 2002, no matter in which year these pieces were made. So the 1 cent coins from several euro countries are indeed dated 1999, 2000, 2001 ... But as far as I know, the Portuguese 1 cent pieces all have 2002 as the first year. Christian
