tabbs

(A little early, I know ...) Due to the new series of €2 commemorative coins, German will only issue four €10 collector coins in 2007. The planned issues are: Wilhelm Busch (born 175 years ago) Treaties of Rome (signed 50 ears ago) Elizabeth of Thuringia (born 800 years ago) Saarland joins the Federal Republic (50 years ago) In addition to these four silver coins, there will also be a €100 gold coin (Unesco Cultural Heritage series) and a €2 coin (German States series). The latter will be legal tender in all euro countries. Christian

In many cases I throw the folders away. Will probably not do that with the Dutch/Canadian "60 years of liberation" set or the annual set from San Marino. But as for those Austrian single-coin folders, I usually open them without actually tearing them apart. (Sometimes I keep the folder for a while, to take notes later, or because some other collector may want it.) The "glue" inside can be removed pretty easily ... Christian

Done ... and thank you! Christian (formerly "chrisild", now "tabbs", same guy)

Dank je wel! As for that user name, guess I was dumb :-) Tried to log in here as "chrisild" which did not work. But instead of realizing that I should have signed up as a new user anyway, I thought something went wrong, and signed up with a different name. So now I am "tabbs", but usually I "sign" my messages ... ---> Christian

Couldn't you ask the Dutch postal service to send some more pieces to your "home" post office? :-) If you could get one for me too, that would be great ... Christian

Actually I got two of those. One came raw from a fellow collector who got them from an Austrian bank, I think. The other one - in the picture - is from a folder like the one you got. But I am known to be a "Pappenkiller" (except when it comes to proof coins) anyway: Down with folders and blisters, freedom for coins! Christian

Here in Euroland the former ("to collectors") are called, surprise, collector(s) coins :-) The others ("to the public") are commemorative coins. <brag> Oh, and I finally managed to take a picture of the coins and sets that I got in the past couple of days. The image is a bit large (about 800 K), so I'll just post the link here: http://img18.echo.cx/img18/3681/heute29ke.jpg </brag> Christian

(Edit: I already posted this to the old forum, but in a thread about some Finnish commem. Maybe this is interesting for others too ...) The common sides of the euro and cent circulation coins will be redesigned to reflect last year's enlargement of the European Union. Currently the coins show the 15 member states of the EU as it was before 1-May-2004, with the member states set apart on the 10, 20 and 50 cent coins, and together on the €1 and €2 pieces. The new coins will have similar "maps" but with the ten new member states included. What the new designs will look like, and when they will be published, has not been decided yet. Also, there is no fixed deadline for the "switch" - in 2007 some new member states (e.g. Estonia) may join the currency union, but maybe the current euro countries already put the new maps on their coins next year. Here is some more information about last week's European Council decision regarding the common sides: http://ue.eu.int/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pres...cofin/85089.pdf (By the way, I am not quite sure if the 1, 2 and 5 cent will actually be unaffected. They show Europe along with parts of Africa and Asia but with the EU-15 "highlighted".) The Council also adopted a recommendation of the European Commission regarding the designs of future country specific sides. It affects pieces that currently have no country designation, ie. coins from Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany and Greece. The German "state twoer" to be issued in February, a €2 coin dedicated to the state of Schleswig Holstein, will therefore already include the full country name. Common guidelines for the national sides of euro circulation coins: http://ue.eu.int/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pres...cofin/85093.pdf Note that these guidelines for the country specific sides are about coins to be issued in the future. So while the Austrian coins currently do have the value on the national side too, the current designs do not have to be modified ... Christian