Beautiful World Coins

See through the 2009 Eiffel Tower Silver Proof 10 Euro Coin!

The French Mint celebrates the 120th Anniversary of the inauguration of the Eiffel Tower with this 2009 commemorative 10 euro silver proof coin with a hollowed-out design in the shape of the Eiffel Tower.

Gustave Eiffel (1832 - 1923) was a gifted engineer and builder. He graduated from the prestigious Ecole Centrale de Paris. His extraordinary career was marked in 1876 by the construction of the Maria Pia bridge over the River Douro in Portugal, then by that of the Garabit Viaduct in central France in 1884 and Budapest station in Hungary. He was responsible for the metal structures of the Bon Marché department store and the Crédit Lyonnais bank in Paris, the cupola of the Nice observatory, and, above all, the very impressive internal structure of the Statue of Liberty. The construction of the Eiffel Tower in 1889 was his crowning achievement.

Mint: Paris

Year: 2009

Face value: 10 Euro

Finish: Proof

Composition: 90% silver

Size: 37 mm

Weight: 20.8 grams

Mintage: 10,000

The 2008 Grand Canyon Silver Proof Coin

The French Mint celebrates the Grand Canyon with this 2008 commemorative 1.5 euro silver proof coin. Added to the UNESCO World Heritage List of the Greatest Wonders of the World in 1979, the Grand Canyon National Park is one of the most visited sites in the United States.

In 2007, Monnaie de Paris issued the first coin in this series: a commemorative 1.5 euro proof coin celebrating the Great Wall of China. The common reverse shows the UNESCO logo and building. Located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, the UNESCO building celebrates the 50th anniversary of its construction in 2008.

Mint: Paris

Year: 2008

Face value: 1.5 Euro

Finish: Proof

Composition: 90% silver

Size: 37 mm

Weight: 22.2 grams

Mintage: 5,000

Spirou, Tintin and Asterix on Commemorative French Silver Coins

The French Mint celebrates the 70th anniversary of Spirou and Le Journal de Spirou magazine with this 2008 commemorative 1.5 euro silver proof coin. Spirou, a young bellboy, is the character originally created by Robert Velter (1909-1991) for the launch of Le Journal de Spirou in 1938. This well-known magazine is a reference in the comics world, renowned for regularly launching new comics characters and also for its longevity. The obverse features the logo of the 70th anniversary of Spirou.

In 2007, the French Mint issued a series of commemorative 1.5 euro proof coins based on comics and mythical european comics heroes. The three Asterix 1.5 euro coins - The Magic Potion, The Banquet, and The Return from Hunting - are shown below with their common obverse. The three Tintin 1.5 euro coins - Tintin and Professor Calculus, Tintin and Captain Haddock, and Tintin and Chang - are all colored and also shown below with their common obverse.

I'm already looking forward to the next commemorative coin in this series: the 2009 Lucky Luke commemorative 1.5 euro silver proof coin.

The Spirou coin:

Mint: Paris

Year: 2008

Face value: 1.5 Euro

Finish: Proof

Composition: 90% silver

Size: 37 mm

Weight: 22.2 grams

Mintage: 10,000

Happy Bastille Day!

July 14th is Bastille Day in France, a national holiday commemorating the storming of Paris' Bastille prison and the uprising that marked the beginning of the French Revolution. Happy Bastille Day to all French people living in France or abroad!

The first image is the front cover of Viva la vida, Coldplay's latest album. The second one is the reverse of a 1.5 euro silver proof coin from the French Mint celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Franco-Japanese Treaty. They both feature the Liberty Guiding the People (La Liberté guidant le people), one of Delacroix famous paintings.

More about Bastille Day and Paris in general in the Paris Blog.

Mint: Paris

Year: 2008

Face value: 1.5 Euro

Finish: Proof

Composition: 90% silver

Size: 37 mm

Weight: 22.2 grams

Mintage: 5,000

The 2008 Rouen Armada Sailing Ships Silver Coins

The French Mint celebrates the ten-day Armada festival held in Rouen in 2008 by issuing two commemorative silver proof coins. These two coins feature a graphic allegory of sailing ships with their mighty sails, one with a 1.5 euro face value, and one 20-euro coin.

For the fifth time since 1989, Rouen, the capital city of Normandy, welcomes the world’s most beautiful sailing ships. This sailing event is held every four or five years. It attracts several million visitors in Rouen, coming for 10 days of music, racing, dancing and delicious seafood. Monnaie de Paris brings to the forefront the world of the sea, the ocean and those sailors who live on it.

Mint: Paris

Year: 2008

Face value: 1.5 Euro (pictured) - 20 Euros

Finish: Proof

Composition: 90% silver (pictured) - 95% silver

Size: 37 mm (pictured) - 50 mm

Weight: 22.2 grams (pictured) - 163.8 grams

Mintage: 5,000 (pictured) - 500

The Franco-Japanese Treaty silver coins from France

The French Mint celebrates the 150th Anniversary of the Franco-Japanese Treaty in 2008 by issuing a series of 1.5 euro silver proof coins illustrating various aspects of the rich Franco-Japanese relations. The Franco-Japanese "Treaty of peace, friendship and commerce" was signed in October 1858. The two countries are still very involved in trade and cultural exchange initiatives.

The first three coins, issued earlier this year, all show artistic objects in existence at the time of the treaty:

1. Liberty Guiding the People (La Liberté guidant le people), one of Delacroix famous paintings
2. A portrait of Ichikawa Ebizo IV, a stage name taken on by a series of Kabuki actors of the Ichikawa family
3. A Japanese Kanei Tsuho coin

The reverse is common to the entire series, and represents the official logo of this anniversary, a combination of the Eiffel Tower and a kimono.

The French Mint just issued a fourth coin in this series. Its obverse shows the most popular monuments of Paris (the Eiffel Tower) and Tokyo (the Sensoji Temple, the oldest temple in Tokyo).

Mint: Paris

Year: 2008

Face value: 1.5 Euro

Finish: Proof

Composition: 90% silver

Size: 37 mm

Weight: 22.2 grams

Mintage: 5,000 (the first 3 coins), 50,000 (the latest coin)

French painters on silver 1/4 euro coins from France

The French Mint recently issued the 2008 Manet 1/4 euro silver coin, the second coin in the French Painters series. This series started in 2007 with the Degas coin and will end in 2015. A total of nine rectangular silver coins will feature French painters throughout five important artistic movements, from classicism to modernism.

The Impressionist movement is represented on the 2007 coin featuring Edgar Degas and one of his famous paintings, L'étoile, while the second coin features Edouard Manet and Olympia, an oil on canvas painting in the Realist style. Both paintings are currently housed at the Musée d'Orsay, the Impressionist museum in Paris.

Mint: Paris

Year: 2007 (Degas), 2008 (Manet)

Face value: 1/4 euro

Finish: Brilliant Uncirculated, colored

Composition: 90% silver

Size: 30 x 21 mm

Weight: 15 grams

Mintage: 5,000 (Degas), 10,000 (Manet)