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European Union: Flags on euro coins

The euro as the European currency
Flags on euro coins

See also:

European Union

The euro as the European currency

The euro is used in 12 countries of the European Union (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain) since 1 January 1999 (1 January 2001 in Greece), although coins and notes were released only on 1 January 2002.

In spite of not being members of European Union, Andorra, the Holy See, Monaco and San Marino also use the euro as their currency.

Ivan Sache, 1 May 2004

Flags on euro coins

At least two countries, France and Austria, have coins that bear the national flag, both in a somewhat concealed fashion.

French euro coin - Image from the European Central Bank website

French euro coins of 10, 20 and 50 cents bear a hatched, striped background on the country-specific side. The left stripe is horizontally hatched, the central stripe bears no hatching, the right stripe is vertically hatched, clearly (not to the uninitiated!) showing the French flag (or at least its colours, blue-white-red) by means of a Petra Sancta hatching.

Austrian euro coin - Image from the European Central Bank website

Austrian euro coins (all denominations) show a tiny Austrian flag on the country-specific side. On smaller denominations (1, 2 and 5 cents) the flag is curved upwards so as to fit in the scarce space. Once more, colours are represented by hatching (three horizontal stripes hatched vertical-plain-vertical standing for red-white-red).

Santiago Dotor, 21 November 2002

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