tabbs

Errm, yes. Besides, the obverse needs to be rotated 90º counter-clockwise methinks. Then you can see the "map" with the original six member states "elevated" in the center, with Northern Germany at the top and Sicily at the bottom. Countries that joined the EEC (and then EU) after 1957 are displayed a little more subtly ... Christian

This is the design of the German 10 euro collector coin that will be issued in March. The coin will come out in addition to the circulating 2 commem issued by all euro countries. Christian

German women ... At least that is how the text on the obverse begins. The four lines are the second verse of the "Lied der Deutschen" written by August Heinrich Hoffmann. Since the name Hoffmann is a somewhat common one, and he was from Fallersleben, he called himself Hoffmann von Fallersleben. German women, German loyalty, German wine and German singing, shall in the world keep their old good sound! (odd word order since I wanted to preserve the lines) Interestingly the Lied der Deutschen became the German national anthem about two years after this note was issued. (The Federal Republic of Germany has the third verse as its anthem.) The other side shows Hoffmann himself, and Fallersleben Castle. Today Fallersleben is part of the city of Wolfsburg, NI. And there's that pfennig symbol again. A little more "ornate" than a mere lowercase d ... Christian

Just a quick comment on the two latest notes ... Gothmund (part of the city of Lübeck) was and still is a picturesque village on the Trave river, with quite a few old houses like the one depicted (see "Haus in Gothmund" at the bottom). The motto underneath the two men is in Platt, not standard German. What I think it says is: (left) My small house on the waterline sparkles in the sunshine, (right) Put up with bad weather, above you a holy hand. The second one is from Haderslev (German: Hadersleben), in the Danish region of Sønderjylland. In the 19th century the town became Prussian, and thus, in 1871, German. After WW1 the Danish-German border regions voted whether they should be part of Denmark or Germany. So in 1920 the German Hadersleben became the Danish Haderslev again. And the referendum is what the note refers to, in a mix of Danish and German. Note the symbol below the 50, by the way - that means Pfennig but is actually a lowercase D. Refers to denarius, much like the d used in the UK before the country went decimal. My grandmother actually used that instead of "Pf" ... Christian

Ian already posted a great explanation; let me just add that Mercury was the Roman god of trade and commerce, and that winged staff with the two snakes is one of his common attributes, called a "caduceus". His left arm leans on a rudder, and at the bottom you see a horn of plenty. Christian (boche & kraut )

Got two commems yesterday - one from Belgium, one from Liechtenstein. The Belgian coin is the one that I mentioned in this discussion http://www.coinpeople.com/BE-10-Bois-du-Cazier-t10836.html ... That one I like; interesting occasion for a commem, and the design is OK too. The other one http://www.coinpeople.com/Liechtenstein-to...oins-t7524.html well, I don't really want to say I regret the purchase, but that is because this is my very first LI coin. The design - örks. Christian

Yes, the fields for the date are empty, hehe ... Greiffenberg was German until 1945 and is now a town in Poland. The Polish name is Gryfow; the place http://www.gryfow.pl/ is close to the PL/DE/CZ tripoint. Guess you know that the griffin in the CoA refers to the town name. The scene on the other side shows one of the many Rübezahl stories. The legendary mountain man was/is a moody guy who is nice with friendly people but dislikes being teased. Even calling him Rübezahl is not recommended in his realm, the Giant Mountains. Don't know this particular story (about "two dishonest tailors"), but Rübezahl can fly, can take the appearance of other people and do other interesting things. Here is a short history of the town in English http://www.gryfow.pl/ang/hist.htm and on the second page http://www.gryfow.pl/ang/hist2.htm even the "Gryfowian" notgeld is mentioned briefly. Christian

Just checked the MR dealers list ... there is "Kroha Münzkabinett" (Neven-DuMont-Str. 15, Tel. 0221 2574238, open 10-13 and 15-18) and "Münzen- und Medaillengalerie Knoppek" (Alter Markt 55, Tel. 0221 253600, http://www.muenzhandel.de/ ), both in downtown Cologne. These two seem to be "walk in" stores. Christian

The newly issued €10 coins are usually available at any Bundesbank branch office. In Aachen that would be this address: Römerstr. 50, 52064 Aachen Tel. 0241 474020 The nice thing is, you get them at face value. Problem is their opening hours for the general public - something like mon-fri 8.30-12.30 or so. Also, they will usually have the latest issue (or maybe two latest) only. Regular banks and savings banks may have them too, but you should ask first. Commercially it does not make sense for them to "sell" coins at face, but some offer that service. Don't know about coin dealers in Aachen; the dealers directory in the "MünzenRevue" magazine does not list any. (But they don't list a place here in Düsseldorf that I sometimes go to either. ) Cologne would be a better place - or an Internet dealer maybe ... Christian

Sure, but don't expect any Early Bird Bonus. The "Elisabeth" coin won't be out until Nov-2007, I think ... Christian

Here are pictures of the winning designs. Sorry for the different image sizes (due to the different sources) - the actual coins will all have the same size. Saarland Wilhelm Busch Elizabeth of Thuringia The "Treaties of Rome" design is not known yet. Maybe the jubilee will be commemorated on the €2 coin "only"; we will see. And there will also be a €10 coin dedicated to 50 years Deutsche Bundesbank; no winning design yet. Christian

Won banivechi's contest, and just got my prize. And not only that, he added some nifty Romanian coins that I did not have yet. On top of that, he picked some coin related stamps (about the new lei and bani coins) for the postage. Thanks a lot, that is much appreciated! Christian

Got mail from Romania and the Netherlands today. (Well, either today or yesterday.) The Rembrandt Vijfje from Erik, and my contest prize from Mircea! Very nice pieces - more in the "topical" discussions. Christian

Got my 2006 FDC (BU) Vatican set today. http://www.honscha.de/bilder/va06.jpg (Not my picture, but that is what mine looks like. Surprise. ) In my opinion the portrait of the Pope is not very well done. But I suppose that is what Benedict approved ... Christian

The Danish central bank has set up a separate site dedicated to Danish coins: http://www.kgl-moent.dk/ Much of the information can be found at the main "Nationalbanken" site (see above) as well. But the "Royal Mint" site has a new web store too. Christian

It's a commemorative coin (well, circulating commem) issued 200 years after the foundation of the first French Republic. Christian

Cool indeed! I have a few coins from DE that went through a decoiner. Here is a 5 DM piece for example: (And here http://www.coinpeople.com/uploads/11298488...5_74_108775.jpg is a bag of notes that went through a shredder.) But if one wants to get any decoined pieces from DE these days ... I don't know any place where they can be had as free giveaways. The portrait of the young Wilhelmina is nice. Better than that of Beatrix methinks. Christian

Got the latest issue of "prägefrisch.de" today. That is the quarterly magazine of the German Numismatic Office. The cover story is about the Dresden coin which will be issued in August. Christian

The Belgian Mint has a new portal - with a somewhat pretentious address. http://www.europemint.eu/ From there you can proceed to the Dutch, French, or English language version of the web site. They also have a web store now, but you have to register with the mint first ... Christian

Herzlichen Dank, Sandra! For the coins that I won and for that extra piece you added. Christian

Well, you know that the three non-EU countries cannot have as many coins made as they want. Their volume issue is limited; San Marino, for example, has an annual contingent of about 2 million euro max, for all the coins it issues. Now of course MC/SM/VA could give all their coins away at face value, but why should they? The issuing country would make less money while the majority of the "end customers" would still have to pay much more than face. Just not to a numismatic office but to some third party vendor. By the way, €100 for that World Youth Day coin, I don't know. http://www.silvas.de/Vatikan2.htm (based on ended eBay auctions). But who knows, there may be people who actually pay such prices. Others, even many euro collectors, simply do not collect them. Christian

Hope you did not have to contact any tourist offices in order to get those. Christian

Possibly so; I do not have that coin but I cannot see anything like that in the picture. Here http://www.muenzauktion.com/mehlhausen/item.php5?id=5 is a large image that does not show a mintmark either. But even the Latvian central bank states that the coin was made by the KNM. Maybe Tiff could check the edge? Christian

Nice! I particularly like that Münchhausen coin ... mostly because of the design but also due to the strange way the country and denomination were added. They could simply have written "1 lats" for the face value, but no, it's "viens simts santimu" (one hundred santims), and the country name can be found on the edge only ... When that coin was issued, I first wondered about the occasion. His 285th birthday?? Well, turned out that the reason was the reopening of the Münchhausen Museum in Dunte (today LT). Münchhausen was born and died in Bodenwerder (today NI, DE) but lived in Dunte for a couple of years and got married nearby. The coin was minted by the KNM in Utrecht, I think. Christian

The European Central Bank now has a nicely done (Flash) animation about the euro security features. http://www.ecb.eu/bc/flash/security/index_en.html Part of that is images of € notes under UV light. In the "menu" on the left, click on "UV light" to view them. And make sure you click on "Turn over" to see the other side - those bridges look interesting in that light ... Christian