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Circulation Coin - Commemorative Coin - Collector Coin

Started by chrisild, July 17, 2013, 12:15:36 AM

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chrisild

You may have noticed that we have different boards for "Circulation and commemorative euro coins" and "Collector coins". Now you may say, every coin can be interesting for a collector and is therefore a collector coin. Or you may point out that you have seen at least some commemorative coins in circulation. Well, these are the European Union's legal terms for the three types of coins we have:

* Circulation Coins:
Those are the regular pieces, 1 cent to 2 euro, that you come across every day (provided you are in the euro area :) ). All these coins, no matter which euro country issues them, are legal tender throughout the euro area.

* Commemorative Coins:
These are €2 pieces that have the regular reverse (common side) and a special obverse (country specific side). Every euro country can issue up to two commemorative coins per year. In addition to that, there may be common issues (same basic design for all euro area member states) from time to time; then an additional commem is OK in that year. Such €2 commems are legal tender throughout the euro area.

* Collector Coins:
These are coins, usually gold or silver pieces, that are made primarily for collectors. They have to be different from circulation coins and commems in various regards. Collector coins are legal tender in the issuing country only.

Here is a brief overview (PDF), from the European Commission website, about euro coins:
https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/1.1_types_of_euro_coins_-_pdf_with_updated_design.pdf

More information particularly about euro collector coins can be found here:
http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,6898.0.html

Christian