Luxembourg 2020 birth of prince charles

[Bimat]

Just read that mintage of UNC coins will be 160,000 only. If that's true, mintage of proof coins will be 5000 or so only...

Aditya

[chrisild]

The BCL says the missing portrait is not a problem because Grand Duke Henri is depicted on the coin through his monogram. That appears to be a very "creative" interpretation of their coinage act which is very clear that the incumbent Grand Duke should be depicted on the coins.

Let us put it this way: If Luxembourg's laws say that the head of state has to be depicted on each and every coin, it is because the head of state insists of having the depiction there. (After all, several older coins from LU do not have a grand-ducal portrait.) If the Grand Duke now finds the monogram to be sufficient, the BCL and ultimately the Luxembourg government will take that into account when presenting and approving the design.

As for what elements can be on the ring of the country specific side, this design is sort-of-OK, I think. European law – Council Regulation (EU) No 729/2014, Article 6 – is fairly clear in that regard. "The national side of circulation coins shall bear a circle of 12 stars that shall fully surround the national design, including the year mark and the indication of the issuing Member State's name. This shall not prevent some design elements from extending into the circle of stars, provided that the stars are all clearly and fully visible. The 12 stars shall be depicted as on the Union flag."

The question is, what does this "extending" mean? If the country name, for example, is spread across the pill and the ring, that is fine. Mintmarks and such on the ring only, hmm. But the stars are indeed shown right.

Now in my opinion we do not really need to have 24 Stars of Europe of our coins. Just arrange the 12 on the common sides in a "flag style" circle, and allow the entire country specific side to be, well, country and issue specific. But nobody listens to me anyway. 

Christian

[chrisild]

the birth date mentioned really confused me. I am more used to MM-DD-YYYY format these days due to several reasons and I had to look at Wikipedia to actually find his birth date (whether it's May 10 or October 5)!

Myself, I find "the American way" confusing. For sorting purposes on the computer, I use YYYY-MM-DD (in fact, I simply type xdat and the current date is inserted). But DD-MM-YYYY is more common in Europe. An ascending or a descending order, either way is fine with me. But that month-(down)-day-(up)-year zigzag is just ... oh well.

What I do find a little strange, with regard to the text on the coin: The language used is Luxembourgish, but the abbreviation of the title seems to be French (S.A.R. = Son Altesse royale). According to the Internet the Luxembourgish version is "Seng kinneklech Altesse", and that would be "S.K.A.". Now what ...?

Christian

[eurocoin]

DD-MM-YYYY makes the most sense, all other formats should be abolished. As for the abbreviation, that is an interesting observation! Very odd.

[Bimat]

Myself, I find "the American way" confusing. For sorting purposes on the computer, I use YYYY-MM-DD (in fact, I simply type xdat and the current date is inserted). But DD-MM-YYYY is more common in Europe. An ascending or a descending order, either way is fine with me. But that month-(down)-day-(up)-year zigzag is just ... oh well.

DD-MM-YYYY makes the most sense, all other formats should be abolished. As for the abbreviation, that is an interesting observation! Very odd.

I have been working with our American client(s) for last 3+ years so I am more used to MM-DD-YYYY format (and also FPS system!)...But I do agree that it's confusing and DD-MM-YYYY is the best one to use. Since we work with multiple offices from different countries/continents which have different dating system, I have adopted the habit of mentioning full date as "November 08^th" and not 08-11 or 11-08 just to make sure that no one is interpreting it differently. If required, I mention year too (November 08, 2020), especially when we are discussing long term project schedules which goes into 1-2 years of planning.

If I were the designer of this coin, may be I would have followed the same practice on the coin too. Or mention the date format below the date

Aditya

[chrisild]

If I were the designer of this coin, may be I would have followed the same practice on the coin too. Or mention the date format below the date

But the coin will be issued by Luxembourg. I am sure that Luxembourgers – in fact, pretty much everybody in the euro area – will know how to read the date. (My documents such as passport, driver's license and ID card do of course have the same DD.MM.[YY]YY date format.)

What may be helpful for those who prefer this strange up-and-down date format: The dots should indicate that something is "different" here ...

Christian

[eurocoin]

I asked CBL about the abbreviation. They replied that the abbreviation is not French but Luxembourgish! Specifically they wrote the following:

"Indeed, concerning the use of language, there was a preference for S.A.R. de Prënz Charles, meaning Seng Altesse Royale de Prënz Charles, which is the more commonly used".

In contrary to 'Seng Kinneklech Altesse', Google cannot find any mention of 'Seng Altesse Royale'. CBL gets 'douze points' for creativity.

[chrisild]

CBL gets 'douze points' for creativity.

Indeed. But thank you for asking, and letting us know about their reply!

Christian

[eurocoin]

In contrary to the information provided earlier: Both the coin in normal relief as well as the coin in Minted Photo Image Technique will be available in rolls.

[Bimat]

In contrary to the information provided earlier: Both the coin in normal relief as well as the coin in Minted Photo Image Technique will be available in rolls.

I was about to post a question about this - received an offer from a seller who is asking €22 for two coins (with and without image) which I think was too cheap for a UNC + Proof combo...I was expecting a BU coin card instead of proof but now it makes sense to have both the versions in unc rolls. Wonder if the mintage will be 50-50 for both?

Aditya

[Angus]

According to this site: https://www.2euro-overview.eu/index.php?&button=detail&muenze=455

There will be

275,000 in rolls with mercury and lion
25,000 in bags of five coin sets with the other eight standard coins, with mercury and lion

7,500 in coincards with mercury and bridge

1,000 proof with the other 2020 CC, with bridge and lion (and, it would seem, a photo-like design)

Given that the proof sets are said to cost €102, I doubt you'd get one BU and one proof for €22!

[Bimat]

BCL will also issue a silver collector €25 coin with the same theme. Although dated 2020, the coin will be issued in January 2021. The design is almost identical to the €2 commemorative with slight changes like position of the birth date is at 4 o'clock but apart from that, nothing major..

Aditya

[Bimat]

DD-MM-YYYY makes the most sense, all other formats should be abolished. As for the abbreviation, that is an interesting observation! Very odd.

Happened to see this map on Twitter. Apt!

Aditya

[Bimat]

Although I am yet to add this €2 commemorative to my collection, I received the €25 silver collector coin with the same theme and design yesterday; paid less than the issue price. Not a bad end to the financial year.

Aditya

[Angus]

So for mugs like me who collect the variants, is it correct that there are five of this one?
- embossed, bridge and lion
- embossed, bridge and mercury
- embossed, lion and mercury
- photo, bridge and lion
- photo, lion and mercury

Most sites I have seen don't seem to be aware of the photo, lion and bridge one, which is only available in a proof version.  And as far as I know the logical sixth one, photo, bridge and mercury, doesn't exist.