Was 2002 a "down" year for Euro coins?

DBSTrader2

Whe the Euros first came out, I decided to try to put together a 1-per-denomination-per-mintmark-per-year-per-country set from 1999 to what became 2002.

I have noticed that a large percentage of my "missing" circulation-produced coins are from 2002, so I was wondering........ did a lot of the countries over-produce before and after 1999, so that they didn't need to produce any more for 2002? I don't know if this trend continued into 2003 & 2004, since I decided not to collect post-'02 for now. But I was just curious.

Take for example France. I only have a 10cent Euro from them from '02, and am missing the other 7 denominations from France for that year. Did they not produce any other '02's for circulation, or are they sitting in a vault somewhere like our Sac dollars?

Below is my list of remaining "needs". If anyone can shed any light on their availability from general circulation (vs special sets only), I'd appreciate it, as I have already crossed-off a large number of coins as "unavailable" for my collection as "circulating".

Thanks for any info!

- - Dave


Remaining EuroCoin needs:

Belgium: $1Euro -2002

Finland: $1Euro - 2002 ; 2cent - 1999 ; 1cent - 2000

France: all 2002's with exception of 10cent

Netherlands: 10cent, 5cent, & 1cent = all 2002

Spain: 20cent - 2000 ; 1cent - 2000 & 2002

farthing

I agree with the idea that such a large number of coins were required to be minted for the switch that newer coins are not entering circulation in large numbers.

A co-worker that just returned from Brussels this week brought back nothing but 1999 dated Belgium coins. When I was in Europe at the beginning of June I found just 3 new coins to add to my Euro date collection, one of which was dated 1999 and another dated 2004.

Darkhorse

Interesting. This isn't a problem here in Germany as it seems the majority of coins are dated 2002.
In my change it is mostly German Euro of course, and the runners up are the coins from France. I have a 2002 French 50 cent coin on my desk right now but it's in shabby condition.

Interestingly enough the most common denomination from other countries I find in my change are the 2 cent coins. In my jar of coppers I have 2 Dutch ones from 2004, an Irish one (very seldom seen here) dated 2002, and an Austrian one dated 2003. I don't find a lot of French 2 cent coins but I find a lot of 5 cent, 50 cent, 1 Euro and 2 Euro ones from time to time. I spent a French 2 Euro coin today... sorry, I didn't check the date.

farthing

Darkhorse, by German law the German Euros could not be dated any earlier than 2002 - when they became legal tender. This was also true for some of the other Euro countries, such as Italy. Others, such as Belgium and the Netherlands dated the coins with the year they were minted, beginning with 1999.

I think the slowdown in the Euro economy also affected the release of later dated coins as well as the diffusion of the coins of the various countries. In my trips to the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Germany, and Portugal since the cutover I have yet to receive a single coin in change from Ireland, Finland and Greece.

Darkhorse

I had Irish room mates so I probably got that Irish Euro from them somehow. I've come across one or two Spanish ones, a Portugese one once but that's it. Nothing from the rest.

DBSTrader2

The neat thing about the German & Greek Euro coins is the added dimension of the variety of mintmarks! Thanks for all the insight so far - - any Forum members from France care to add their 2 eurocents? Matter of fact, do we HAVE any members from France?

- - Dave

Ezra

Every country participating in the Euro system (including Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican) minted coins in 2002 - at least for use in the special Mint Sets. Countries that began minted the coins with prior years dates (1999-2001) (ex. France, Netherlands, Finland, Spain) obviously did not mint as many coins with 2002 dates as those countries which placed 2002 on all 1st year Euro coins, regardless of the year of mintage (ex. Germany, Ireland, Greece).

Now, there is an added twist. As of 2004, each country may mint a special commemorative 2 Euro coin each year. This year, only Greece, Luxembourg and Finland have done so as of yet (August 2004). I was able to get the Greek 2 Euro pretty cheap (2.50 Euro), but had to pay a pretty big premium for Luxembourg (4 Euro) and can't find the Finland for less than 10 Euro.

I think this site is good for describing Euros (although, I don't think it has been updated since Summer 2003)
:
http://yuri.no.sapo.pt/En/Euro/euroinfo.htm

Good Luck,

Ezra

Darkhorse

I'm not far from Luxembourg and I've only found Luxembourgian change once. In Strasbourg, France. Pretty hard to come by.
Oddly enough I've been getting a lot of Belgian Euro in my change lately.