Hi all, One more coin I picked up at the NYINC Coin Show Slovakia - 2 Euro 2000 Commemorative Issue 10th Anniversary of the European Monetary Union Obverse The coin shows a stick figure which merges into the € symbol. https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces5092.html Forgive me for my blurry pictures. Looking to get me some good equipment for better shots. My Cellphone camera sucks!
That 2009 coin which commemorates the 10th anniversary of the introduction of the euro as a currency (and for non-cash payments) was a joint issue again. That is, each euro area member state issued such a piece. Back then that meant 16 countries. All coins have the same design* but differ with regard to the language of the inscription. The design was picked in a public vote, with the names of the designers initially being secret. Unfortunately the info that this "stickman" design had been done by Georgios Stamatopoulos of the Greek Mint somehow became public before the end of the vote, and a campaign among some Greek began to support that design. So ultimately of the 115,000 valid votes about 41% went to this design. Stamatopoulos' idea was that the stickman looks like a 1 while the euro symbol combined with the right edge of the irregular background resembles a 0, thus you get a "10" for the 10 years. What the stickman and the background (which reminds of an ancient coin shape) have to do with the occasion - don't ask me. Better yet, don't ask anybody. The common issue that came three years later and commemorated 10 years of the euro cash makes some sense at least, hehe. * Side note: In Luxembourg the grand duke (head of state) insists on being depicted on every coin, so the pieces from LU all have his portrait as a latent image "built into" the common design. That was done in 2007 (Treaty of Rome), 2009 (Currency Union), 2012 (Euro Cash) and 2015 (European Flag). Christian
