Yes, I have those too. (And the first one in that silver/niobium series, see here). But I primarily focus on euro coins that are - or at least may be - used in the entire currency union. The silver, gold, etc. collector coins are legal tender in the issuing member state only and do not circulate. Here is one from Spain, a €2 commem featuring the cathedral (mezquita-catedral) in Córdoba. The other side is the regular reverse with the map. Christian
Very nice! Looks like the early Austrian ones are a bit spendy these days. I don't think I'll ever get the whole series but they are way cool.
Aside from the error coin I scanned and already added earlier to this topic... http://www.cointalk.com/threads/post-your-best-favorite-error-coins.189220/page-11#post-1778118 ... I also really like this UNC circulation € coin...
Don't really collect error coins, but the one from Monaco, with the missing mintmark and mintmaster sign, is pretty cool. If you have one like that, congratulations! The Vatican piece I have too. Their numismatic office (and/or the Italian mint) is a little slow (the latest issue I got from them was the one commemorating the Vacant See period in early March - the coin arrived here this week) but reliable. Christian
Which one is that? Didn't they stop producing Sede Vacante coins because of EU rules? I don't really know what they can or can't issue, anymore.
No, it's just that for the Sede Vacante 2005 the Vatican issued a whole set (eight denominations) of "circulation" coins. They cannot do that any more, so this year it was a commemorative €2 coin only, plus silver and gold collector coins. Christian
That Catholic World Youth Day (Giornata Mondiale della Gioventù) was in Cologne, by the way, and the main feature of the obverse is the cathedral in that city. Six years later, the same cathedral gets depicted on a coin from Germany - the North Rhine Westphalia piece in the "German states" series. The other side we can safely ignore here. For the regular coins (circulation pieces and commemorative €2 coins) it is always the map and the face value: Older €2 design - http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/images/image8375.gif Current design - http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/images/image8369.gif Christian
Here are a couple of very attractive designs. I especially like the "S" inside the bottom star of the Greek 1€ coin. This "S" means that both of these coins were minted in Finland.
The same designer who created that "tetradrachm" style coin (Georgios Stamatopoulos) also made another one ... which I don't like much. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the euro currency (cash came later) and the EMU, he designed this one. And his design even won the public vote, so four years ago every euro area member state issued a €2 commem with that design ... Christian
But by and large I like the variety of styles though. This year for example Slovakia issued a Constantine (Cyril) and Methodius commem, in a very traditional style (image: Kremnica Mint), while Slovenia commemorated the Postojna Caves with a modern-abstract design. Christian
I think I might have an entire page of 2€ coins, that's it. Never really wanted to collect those forced designs. One can easily say that 50% of the 2€ coins are amazing designs, the other 50% are terrible, thoughtless, uninspiring and awful looking. Add to that the 3€ joke of a denomination and it totally undermines the credibility of the forced 2€ commemoratives. I prefer and have liked the 1€ coins from their very beginnings. I decided to attempt my own version of a type set with just the 1 €uros. Somewhere along the way it took on a life of its own. The map change was substantial. Add a few mintmark varieties, errors, sentimental dates, some BU set 1 €uros, etc. and now it pretty much controls me. When procrastination doesn't get in the way, I act on impulse and buy what is next. I have a cat variety 2013 1€ from a Belgium BU set to acquire and I guess the Latvian 1€ will be next, whenever it shows up.
Quite possibly so, yes. Keep in mind that those €3 coins (from Slovenia) are collector coins, see msg #2 here. Collector coins are not made or meant for circulation, see http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:169:0008:0010:EN:PDF (Article 5) 1. Collector coins shall have the status of legal tender only in the issuing Member State. (...) 5. Member States shall take all appropriate measures to discourage the use of collector coins as a means of payment. Other euro countries have issued €2.50, €7 etc. denominations. Since they are not used, who cares? The eight "regular" denominations are what is legal tender in the entire euro area, and that includes the commemorative €2 coins. Another design that I really like is my avatar, the Italian €1 coin featuring Leonardo's Vitruvian Man. Not created specifically for the coin of course, but it looks good in my opinion. Christian
Italy started making euro coins in September 1998, and - just like Finland for example - they initially put "1999" (first year of the euro) on those pieces. But yes, some of those were flawed in various ways. Partly because the mint (IPZS) had made mistakes such as the missing signature, and also because the EU specifications for two denominations (10 and 50 cent) were modified, due to requests from the vending industry and vision impaired people, in late February 1999 - at a time when several mints had already started making the coins. The Italian government decided, in June 1999, to be on the safe side and to use 2002 as the first date. The 1999 pieces were mostly melted down, but a few apparently "survived". Ah well, other mints initially made other mistakes. For example, the stars on the obverse are supposed to be arranged like on the European flag, not "radially". And yet several German mints apparently made that mistake: Correct orientation: http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/images/image8490.gif Error: http://www.12see.de/userdaten/000150/76/bilder/probe/50_cent_a_1.jpg Again, most of these error pieces were destroyed immediately once the mistake had been found. But a few made it to dealers and collectors. Christian
I would not have noticed that star difference. Here is the 2002 1€, possibly weak strike on the star and engraver's mark... http://www.attilacoins.com/images/Error 1 Euro Italy.jpg
Hmm, yes, looks like a weak strike to me too. The funny thing is that some of those "1999" pieces (10 cent, 1 euro) did have a missing signature. But those have been melted down, except for very few that "escaped". Christian
Good to know about the few escapees. I won't set my sights on such rarities. The Portugal 2008 1€ wrong map error, however, is not out of my reach.