2015: Common "European Flag" €2 Issue

[eurocoin]

I was struggling to decide on which one I would vote, actually I found the winning design the least worse but it looked like the previous issue of 2009 and I don't want a trend. In the end I voted for it anyway. I am very curious to see how it will look like on the coin, for now I still think that the design on the 2012 10 years of euro cash coin is the best joint commemorative.

[eurocoin]

Finland is going to issue their coin on 23 July. The coin will have a mintage of 500.000 pieces.

[Bimat]

Thanks for the update! Most of the countries have planned their issue in September / October I believe. I think it's better to get the entire set together instead of getting one/two coins together (if you are non EU collector). Will we also see a Greek version of the same?

Aditya

[Bimat]

NBS approves the release of commemorative coin

29. Jul 2015 at 6:24

THE COUNCIL of the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS), the country's central bank, approved the planned commission of commemorative €2-coins to mark the 30th anniversary of the European Union's flag.

One million of the coins will be produced in the state-run Kremnica Mint (Banská Bystrica Region), the TASR newswire reported.

The coin will have the same technical parameters as an ordinary €2-coin, and it will serve as a legally valid means of payment in Slovakia and the rest of the eurozone.

The commemorative coin, with the same motif designed by Greek artist George Stamatopoulos, will be released in all the eurozone countries, TASR reported.

Source: Spectator

[Bimat]

Mintage figures as reported by some dealers:

Finland: 489,000;
The Netherlands: 988,000;
Spain: 4,000,000;
France: 4,001,000;
Belgium: 400,000;
Germany: 30,000,000 (A + D + F + G + J);
Estonia: 350,000;
Greece: 748,500;
Ireland: 999,000;
Italy: 1,000,000;
Latvia: 1,010,000;
Lithuania: 750,000;
Luxembourg: 507,500;
Malta: 300,000;
Austria: Not known yet;
Portugal: 510,000;
Slovakia: 1,000,000;
Slovenia: 1,000,000;
Cyprus: 342,000.

Aditya

[Figleaf]

If the figures are largely correct, you are in luck if you live in a member state with a population of less than 3 million or Germany. Italians and Belgians are least likely to find a specimen in circulation. The figure in the total line in the column ratio is an average.

Peter

member-state	population	mintage	ratio
Luxembourg	549 680	507 500	0.923
Malta	425 384	300 000	0.705
Latvia	2 001 468	1 010 000	0.505
Slovenia	2 061 085	1 000 000	0.485
Cyprus	858 000	342 000	0.399
Germany	80 767 463	30 000 000	0.371
Estonia	1 315 819	350 000	0.266
Lithuania	2 943 472	750 000	0.255
Ireland	4 605 501	999 000	0.217
Slovakia	5 415 949	1 000 000	0.185
Finland	5 451 270	489 000	0.090
Spain	46 512 199	4 000 000	0.086
Greece	10 903 704	748 500	0.069
France	65 835 579	4 010 000	0.061
Netherlands	16 829 289	988 000	0.059
Portugal	10 427 301	510 000	0.049
Belgium	11 203 992	400 000	0.036
Italy	60 782 668	1 000 000	0.016
Austria	8 506 889
total	337 396 712	48 404 000	0.265

[Bimat]

Interesting analysis, Peter! Many thanks for that!

The top two entries in the table (Luxembourg and Malta) do not issue the rolls of €2 commemorative coins for face value (they add VAT to it) and I'm not sure if they put commemorative €2 coins into circulation at-all. So in that case, it's extremely unlikely that you will find issues from these two countries in circulation...

I just noticed that I made a mistake in mentioning mintage for French issue. It's 4,010,000 (forgot one zero ). Now the ratio for the French issue becomes 0.06, still too small. Amended the post accordingly.

Aditya

[Pabitra]

Not true for Luxembourg at least.
The VAT is charged only for international orders.
In local market, one does get commem coins in circulation, may be not that common but certainly more common than countries like Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, UAE etc.
Note : all from first hand experience.

[Bimat]

Not true for Luxembourg at least.
The VAT is charged only for international orders.
In local market, one does get commem coins in circulation, may be not that common but certainly more common than countries like Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, UAE etc.
Note : all from first hand experience.

Do you mean, when in Luxembourg, you can visit the central bank (or any other authorized distributor bank) and get a roll (€2 commemorative) for face value i.e. €50? The press releases by central bank always mention price including VAT, that's why I thought so...

Aditya

[Figleaf]

According to EU law, VAT is charged on all domestic sales. However, the VAT on coins changing hands at face is 0%. I got rolls of circulation (non-commemorative) coins at a bank in Luxembourg, but it was just what they happened to have in stock. A roll sold at an agio over face should attract VAT, even if it contains current coins, but not everyone is aware of that.

No idea how the commemoratives are distributed. Some member-states will distribute them in apparently recognisable rolls, others in non-recognisable rolls, others still will mix them with older coins, so getting a roll does not guarantee anything and people who don't care would put them into circulation.

Peter

[Bimat]

Mintage of Belgian issue will be 400,000 only. Updated my earlier post accordingly.

Aditya

[Bimat]

Looking again at Peter's summary, it appears that the 2015 series will be perhaps the hardest series (in terms of numbers, not availability with dealers) among all similar series (2007, 2009 and 2012) issued since introduction of euro. Countries like Portugal, Italy, Malta etc. will be issuing two other €2 commemorative coins (apart from the flag issue) so three in total...busy year ahead!

Aditya

[Bimat]

Tentative issue dates:

Belgium: November 2015;
Germany: November 05, 2015;
Estonia: Not decided yet;
Finland: Issued!;
France: November 16, 2015;
Greece: Not decided yet;
Ireland: October 2015;
Italy: November 2015;
Latvia: November 2015;
Lithuania: November 2015;
Luxembourg: Not decided yet;
Malta: Not decided yet;
The Netherlands: OCtober 2015;
Austria: November 2015;
Portugal: November 2015;
Slovakia: September 2015;
Slovenia: Not decided yet;
Spain: October 2015;
Cyprus: Not decided yet.

Aditya

[eurocoin]

Germany: 5 November 2015

[Bimat]

Thanks! Updated my previous post.

Aditya