Were Native Monies Demonitized After The Euro Came Out?

itsnotjustme

Does older money from Euro states retain any value, or did it become worthless so many months after the release of the Euro?

Conder101

I'm not really sure you can call it "demonitized" In most, if not all, cases they are still exchangable at each countries central bank, but they are no longer usable in commerce. So they are no longer legal tender, but they are still somewhat redeemable FOR legal tender.

Barry

As I recall, there was one year to exchange the old money for Euros.

dddangerousdan

One year was to do it at a local bank. You can still do it at the country's central bank and only there.

DAN

cladking

Each country has its own rules for swapping and how to do it. The old coins are
already irredeemable in some and some can still be exchanged. Typically in this
sort of exchange almost almost all the coins that will be exchanged come in very
early so it's of little importance how long they remain redeemable.

Redemption rates on high denomination coins tend to be very high and the rates
for smaller denominations tend to be much lower. The general population tends
to think that any coin which is being recalled is of necessity rare and hence highly
collectible which causes large numbers of coins to be retained by people.

Curiously many of the old European coins had a much lower survival rate than even
the modern US coins in uncirculated condition. The switch to the Euro has gotten
people examing the coins and collecting both the new and the old ones. This is be-
ginning to highlight just how scarce some of the old coins are in original condition.

CarlWohlforth

China is buying all the obsolete European nickel coins it can. They are using them to make stainless steel.

cladking

Most of the redeemed European coinage has already been destroyed. A Dutch firm
makes a machine which defaces the coins so security isn't needed for transport to the
furnaces.

In fact large percentages of the coins made in the latter half of the 20th century have
been destroyed over the decades. Many of these coins were ignored when they were
issued and then the bulk were melted to recover their metal. This applies to coins of
virtually all metallic composition.

This was not common practice until very recent times. Most coins have simply been al-
lowed to wear away in circulation while the banks and issuers removed only coin which
was damaged or underweight.