h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I can't say what it's like having to use the euro, since I live in the US, but I have to say it's a bonanza from the coin collector's point of view! There are eight different coins from each country, and 12+ countries participating. If a person wants to collect them all, it's a challenge, yet the novelty of the idea and the beauty of the designs makes it very much worth it! And in addition to the circulating euro coins, there is a vast world of prototype euros which were quietly minted by various European and even Asian and African countries during the past decade and a half, providing a dedicated collector such as myself with a lifetime's work of assembling the lot. It's sad that the franc, peseta, deutschmark, drachma, and so on have to go, but no one in the coin world will forget them. The changeover to the euro is being viewed as an exciting new development; history in the making. It's somewhat like collecting our United States State Quarters - but a whole lot neater.

I'm a coin collector in the U.S. as well, but I have much more mixed feelings about the Euro. I don't know enough about economics to make an informed opinion of how it will turn out; people fret when the E drops below the dollar but it's only dropped a few cents below last I checked. If it manages to hold steady, that will make it a force to be reckoned with in the world market. If it doesn't, it will be disastrous for the countries involved and very difficult to revert back to the old system.

As a collector, I'm not all that thrilled with this first batch of E coins. Some countries have interesting designs but others are very bland and conservative. Hopefully the countries will be allowed to periodically change the designs to keep things interesting. And while there are many new designs out now, I still feel a sense of loss at the idea that there will no longer be as many unique designs out there since the countries only have one side of the coin to work with.

I'm also a coin collector in the US. I'm not too impressed with the new Euro designs. I hope they keep seperate country ones and change them often. However, some of the designs that were replaced wheren't very exciting either. It provides more varieties to collect now and also makes the former country ones rarer. I'm also disappointed that all of the coins are round, since I'm partial to non-round ones. The bills aren't exciting, since they only depict generic architecture and not real buildings.

I feel that the Euro is the most boring coin available - all of the coins are circular! No nice many-sided coins like the 20p or the 50p, all the same basic design. The name too is dull beyond belief. "Euro". "cent". It shows absolutely no imagination whatsoever. Why not call it "credits" and get it over with, I'm surprised the population of Europe didn't commit suicide out of the sheer boredom of the new currencies name.

Okay, so each country gets one side to have its own design - but if the coins are all a standard size, there's no real reason why they couldn't have 2 faces with their own design, provided they had "1 Euro" written on them.

Should (Heaven forbid!) the UK join the single currency, the most beautiful coins in the world will all become dull. No more unique designs for St Helena, Ascension, Gibralter, the Falklands, South Shetland Islands etc., many currencies that still use Sterling are in the Southern Hemisphere. All would become dull, with the Euro sign looking like a badly drawn £.

<BB<

I use the Euro coins every day and I like them, except for the 1, 2 and 5 cent coins which are all too similar to each other. They are hard to tell apart. The 1 and 2 cent coins are worth so little that it hardly seems worth having them.

There's already been a long discussion elsewhere on the picture of a man's genitals on the 1 Euro and 2 Euro coins. Apparently, it never occurred to any of the designers.

I think it depends a lot on the country how boring the coins are. In Ireland for example, there is the same motive on every coin (which is a backdrop compared to the variety on the Irish Pound coins). Some countries, however did have some kind of plebiscite about the motives (but not about the question whether they wanted the Euro or not), and those coins are much more interesting (like Mozart on Austrian and the Botticelli Venus on Italian coins). In Germany, the smaller coins still look all the same, and they all have the oak leaves on them, just the same as it was with the old Pfennigs.

As far as I know, even such tiny countries as Monaco, San Marino and the Vaticane have produced a number of Euro coins, but you will hardly get them as a change when going there. In the recent two months I (in Germany) got as a change only two Austrian, two Spanish and one Dutch Euro coin. I was anticipating that the current of coins would be equilibrating between the Euro countries more quickly.

I started collecting the euro coins from different countries in January, and already have three complete sets, Ireland (doesn't really count, as I live here), Austria and France, as well as some assorted others. I agree that some of the coins are dull, particularly the Belgian and Dutch ones. And, yes, the Irish ones, although I have to say I LIKE the harp.

The Vatican coins have little Pope heads printed on them. Imagine trying to spend that small change on the Falls Road

The Vatican coins have little Pope heads printed on them. Imagine trying to spend that small change on the Falls Road.
The Falls Road is a mainly Protestant area, isn't it?

On the question of the numbers of coins from different countries evening out, that would depend on whether the coins that you are referring to are the 1, 2 and 5 cent coins or the larger value coins. The larger value coins are more likely to be given as change and then used to pay for small items in shops.

Yep, I think so, although the Shankhill Road would do just as well. Some of their residents are known to have a slight aversion to the Pope (having coined such gems as 'papist pigs' and the immortal 'f**k the Pope'). But as Euros are now accepted as legal tender in the UK, they'd have to accept the coins. They wouldn't necessarily leave you with the use of your legs, but that's another story.

Are Euros really legal tender in the UK? I thought they were just accepted in many shops as a matter of convenience.

Europa: The European Union

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They are legal tender, with the restriction that you can only pay for items with them but you can't receive change in them.

Regarding BBs commentary in post 4, the currency is limited to its name because of the necessity for all European national lamguages to be able to accomodate it.

The name "Ecu" for example, was abandoned at a Madrid conference for sounding too French.

Yeah, it's 'Euro' in all languages except Greek, which has a different alphabet. It looks like EYPO, or something like that.

I don't see anything wrong with the name. 'Cent' is a bit too americanised for my liking, but then quite a few European countries had small units of currency sounding like that: the centime, for one.

Agreed, and 'eurocent' doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.

Re. The Euro being legal tender in the UK...

The term 'legal tender' would mean that legislation has been passed by the government and that shops would be compelled to accept Euros...
as far as I know, that just isn't the case, certain individual companies have unilaterally decided to accept the Euro, but that is completely up to them, it is exactly the same situation as exists around Calais in France, where many of the shops accept Stirling, but try telling the French that the £ stirling is legal tender in their country, you'll probably spark off another waterloo.

British companies are quite within their right to accept payment in any currency they like. If they wanted to they could accept payment in peanuts... however that doesn't make peanuts legal tender


Whisky

Sorry, I was just repeating what was reported here in
Australia.
Annie

Reply to post 4:
Personaly I don't think there is anything wrong with the name Euro. It shows a lot more Imagination than calling it dollar and getting it over and done with(no offence to anyone using Dollars). After all there are loads of countries were they have currencies called 'something' Dollar. And Cent is just what it was called in heaps of languages already and it works in most(if not all)European languages.

As far as being all round, what is wrong with that? Again that was the way it already was in a lot of European countries, and it was more of an exception to have sided instead of round coins.
Then again I think that money has to be functional in stead of beautifull. After all if you use it all day every day you stop paying attention to it's looks and just use it to pay.

On a personal note about the Dutch coins, I presume they all have the queen on them, which was the case on the dutch guilder as well. So I suppose thats why they did it.

Rod

hi my name is natasha and im in sleaford,England and im trying to find out about the english 2 pence piece before 1982 they had new pence written on them and i was watching a tv programme called trading treasures and this antique guy said that if you find any new pence before 1982 kicking around then keep hold they are worth £400 whether that is true or not i dont know.

I would seriously doubt that. There were millions of these made! I'm sure I have a few at home.