The new Euro Coin Catalog ("Euro Münzkatalog") by Gerhard Schön is out. This is the 5th edition of that German language catalog, March 2006 ...



... and the price went up from €7.00 (for the 2005 issue) to €9.90 (for the new one). On the other hand, the price per page is about the same: Due to the hyperproductivity of certain European mints, the new catalog has about 350 pages; the previous issue had about 250.

Contrary to the Fischer/Kahnt catalog ("Die Euro-Münzen") the images in the Schön are not in color. Basically that does not make much of a difference, except in the case of colored pieces maybe, or if one also collect the annual sets including their covers. (Another catalog is the "Leuchtturm Euro-Katalog" where the photos are in color but relatively small.)

The new Schön even includes those countries that plan to introduce the euro in 2007/08/09. In the case of Estonia (2008), Lithuania (2007/08), Slovakia (2009?), and Slovenia (2007) it shows the designs that are planned for the country specific sides, and also depicts the new designs of the common sides.

Christian

I love it when books claim "Aktuelle Marketpreisen".
Until we invent wi-fi paper that updates itself it's rather hard to print prices that will be current in the future

It is probably a good idea to start a catalog now, the longer someone waits the harder it will be. Has anyone done an ENglish language version?

Hehe ... that seems to be Gietl/Battenberg specific. I have three catalogs which are published by that group, and they all have this "Mit aktuellen Marktpreisen". Well, since they also have the year of issue in big digits on the front page, the user can at least figure out that these are the "current market prices" from shortly before that date.

In the case of a euro coin catalog, that is probably not terribly important anyway: People buy them primarily because they want to have an overview of previously and newly issued coins, I think. For catalogs that won't be filled with new issues any more that may be different, and getting "current market prices" may be a more important reason to buy a new edition ... as long as the reader knows that such prices are merely (rough) orientation marks.

Don't know whether there are any euro coin catalogs in English. Collectors in English speaking countries such as the US or the UK will probably collect euro coins as part of some "world" collection, if they collect them at all. So the need for such a specific catalog in English is probably negligible. Also, since I speak German pretty well, I have not tried yet to find euro coin catalogs in other languages.

Christian

The 2005 edition of the Mevius



lists all dutch euro coins including details. It also lists the other euro coins, but only mentions them as "these are also available", no further details.

This catalog is in dutch....

Like they need a catalog, every coins looks the same

Nah, that's the Belgian pieces. The Dutch euro circulation coins (which probably take only very few pages in that 200+ yr catalog) are a little dull, but most of the collector coins are nice or even stunning.

Christian

Indeed, I dare not to collect Euro coins for the moment although they are beautiful. I am afraid of type set bugs...

Does anyone know how the prices in this volume compare with those of the Leuchtturm? I briefly browsed through the Leuchtturm 2006 edition and the prices on some of the Finn coins are somewhat higher than I expected. Are all prices generally high, or is it just because the Finn coins are more difficult to find?

Indeed. I just compared the Leuchtturm 2006 (L) and Schön 2006 (S) "prices" of some Finnish collector coins (proof versions here):

€10 Lönnrot: L 90 euro, S 45 euro
€10 Runeberg: L 65, S 40
€10 Jansson/Moomins: L 60, S 40

Maybe that is also because the Schön is a little more recent. For example, the 2006 collector coins that the Schön lists are: Snellman, Voting Rights, Åland Demilitarization. The Leuchtturm has the Snellman coin but not the other two yet. But I agree, the Schön prices come closer to my experience ...

Interestingly, the Schön prices have recently been discussed in a German coin forum where G. Schön, the catalog "author", is a pretty active member. Some complained about the price listings in his World Coins catalog being a little too high (especially when compared to the Krause). He replied that they more or less reflect what dealers in Germany demand; guess he would be happy to hear about cases where he is the guy with the low (and probably more appropriate) prices.

Christian

In about two weeks, by the way, the new "2007" edition of the Fischer/Kahnt/Grabowski euro coins catalog will come out:


(Image from amazon.de)

The catalog (6th ed. 2007) costs €14.90 like the previous edition, even though it has grown from almost 600 to more than 700 pages. I will check its coin values/prices out next month ...

Christian

Considering the original selling prices here, the Leuchtturm is about right for these IMO. I was thinking more the 2004 commemorative €2 and some of the other circulation coins, and even the mint sets.

The "here" could make a difference. These are the Finland listings of two dealers I (more or less) regularly buy from:
http://www.emuenzen.de/verkauf/kat89land215.html
http://www.muntplaats.nl/categories.php?c_id=20


As for the former, the Leuchtturm catalog says €30 for the BU version, while the Schön lists a price of €4-10 (with 10 being the price for BU). In this case the current price over here is roughly in the middle.

Christian

I will have to bookmark those.



The €30 is what struck me as high, but that €4 also seems quite low at least for the domestic market here where demand may be a bit higher. An average circulated piece easily goes for €10+, and a BU for around €15+.

I was again looking through the Leuchtturm's pages. If I am reading it correctly, were most of the German 2004 €0.20 available only in sets?

It can be true, I've found only one 20 cent 2004 D from circulation.

Seems so. Usually I check Henning Agt's (unofficial) pages when I want an overview:
http://www.euro-auflagen.de/index.php?lang=en&mode=nokms
(This is the English language version without the KMS/sets details.)

According to both that page and Gerhard Schön's catalog, mintage was more than 30 million in that year. But Munich was the only mint that made them for circulation; all others can indeed be found in sets only.

Christian

Ok, thanks for that link! I have a 2004-D €0.20 and thought that it would be quite something to have found it from circulation if it were issued only in sets.

Acording to my Michel pocket Eurokursmuenzen-Katalog 2006, the 20 cents 2004D coin was issued in only 246.000 ex. (!?!) Catalog value is 4,50 for ss, 5 for vz and 6 euro for stg. And this is not the lowest mintage: for 2006 is listed a mintage of 165.000 pcs. I wonder how if that mintage is real, I did not find more than ONE coin of 20 cents 2004D, living in Munchen in 2005-2006 and checking every coin from change? For example I've hoarded 10-15 pcs 2 euro Holstentor in only one month, and the mintage was 6.300.000, not 33.600.000!

Hmm, strange. According to the central bank, the total mintage ordered was 30 million. See
http://www.bundesbank.de/download/bargeld/muenzpraegung.pdf

Note there are two orders of the €2 Schleswig-Holstein coin: 13-Jul-05 and 22-Nov-05. As for the figures in that file ... well, it is basically useless for collectors since it does not list actual mintage figures per year but the volumes that the Bundesbank orders from the mints. The mints can then be relatively flexible regarding the years that appear on the coins.

For example, according to that Bundesbank orders list, there are no 20 ct 2004 coins at all. Except that the mint in Munich made several million (30m, maybe more) of them ... Guess it will take a few more years until we actually know the precise mintage numbers of the "regular" circulation pieces.

Christian

Christian, the 6.3 Million pieces are for D mint, it was my mistake to not to specify. It was a comparison between 2 types of coins teoretically available in Munich. I was amazed to find many "collectable" 2 euro commem coins of relative low mintage and only one "regular" 20 cents of high mintage...