Irish euro coins all share the same design by Jarlath Hayes, that of the harp, a traditional symbol for Ireland since the Middle Ages, based on that of the Brian Boru harp, housed in Trinity College Dublin. The same harp is used as on the official seals of the Taoiseach, and government ministers and the seal of the president of Ireland. The coins' design also features the 12 stars of the EU, the year of issue and the Irish name for Ireland, "Éire", in a traditional Gaelic script.
All Irish euro coins bear the same design on their obverse side: a Celtic harp based on the Trinity College Harp, flanked to the left and right by the word "ÉIRE" (Irish for Ireland) and the year the coin was struck, written in Gaelic type. These in turn are surrounded by the 12 stars of the flag of Europe. On the one-euro coin the stars appear on the gold coloured surround with the harp and words in the silver coloured centre. The colours are in the reverse for the two euro coin.
| National Identifier | "ÉIRE" (in Gaelic type) |
| Mint Mark | None |
| Engravers Initials | None |
| €2 Edge inscription |  |
The following table shows the mintage quantity for all Irish euro coins, per denomination, per year. [1]
| Face Value | €0.01 | €0.02 | €0.05 | €0.10 | €0.20 | €0.50 | €1.00 | €2.00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 404 365 000 | 354 665 000 | 456 295 000 | 275 935 000 | 234 605 000 | 144 165 000 | 135 165 000 | 90 615 000 |
| 2003 | 77 965 000 | 177 355 000 | 48 415 000 | 133 885 000 | 57 205 000 | 11 875 000 | 2 585 000 | 2 695 000 |
| 2004 | 174 870 000 | 143 040 000 | 82 370 000 | 36 810 000 | 32 460 000 | 6 790 000 | 1 670 000 | 3 780 000 |
| 2005 | 128 600 000 | 74 700 000 | 56 560 000 | 7 200 000 | 40 540 000 | 17 360 000 | 6 870 000 | 13 520 000 |
| 2006 | 110 970 000 | 26 590 000 | 89 810 000 | 9 640 000 | 10 400 000 | 7 500 000 | 4 040 000 | 5 120 000 |
| 2007 | 163 800 000 | 200 940 000 | 136 210 000 | 76 990 000 | 34 470 000 | 8 680 000 | 5 700 000 | 7 410 000 |
| 2008 | 46 150 000 | 35 830 000 | 61 900 000 | 56 560 000 | 46 000 000 | 1 220 000 | 2 590 000 | 6 110 000 |
| 2009 | 52 200 000 | 44 280 000 | 11 330 000 | 11 770 000 | 5 420 000 | 2 930 000 | 3 320 000 | 1 040 000 |
| 2010 | 10 940 000 | 3 490 000 | 1 010 000 | 1 070 000 | 1 020 000 | 1 160 000 | 1 070 000 | 1 460 000 |
| 2011 | 40 970 000 | 4 720 000 | 1 010 000 | 940 000 | 1 160 000 | 1 080 000 | 1 080 000 | 1 040 000 |
| 2012 | 61 392 000 | 11 932 000 | 1 042 000 | 1 082 000 | 992 000 | 1 012 000 | 1 032 000 | 8 784 000 |
| 2013 | 61 479 000 | 34 814 000 | 1 057 000 | 951 000 | 1 299 000 | 975 000 | 973 000 | 1 065 000 |
| 2014 | 35 143 000 | 3 124 000 | 1 067 000 | 1 092 000 | 1 195 000 | 1 079 000 | 989 000 | 5 318 000 |
| 2015 | 41 000 | 41 000 | 1 101 000 | 9 061 000 | 1 121 000 | 1 131 000 | 1 091 000 | 1 182 323 |
| 2016 | 214 000 | 164 000 | 84 000 | 2 284 000 | 84 000 | 84 000 | 84 000 | 10 679 000 |
| 2017 | 17 170 | 17 120 | 790 980 | 197 255 | 17 115 | 17 260 | 92 300 | 92 730 |
| 2018 | 25 980 | 25 990 | 30 072 180 | 185 800 | 126 030 | 85 990 | 85 710 | 89 440 |
| 2019 | 9 000 | 9 000 | 30 009 000 | 10 009 000 | 9 000 | 9 000 | 9 000 | 9 000 |
| Bold - Small quantities minted for sets only. | ||||||||
Limited release in 2010, featuring an Irish hunter horse and foal. [2]
Limited release in 2011, featuring a salmon and smolt.
Limited release in 2012, featuring an Irish wolfhound and pup.
Wide release (in common with all Euro nations) in 2007, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome.
Wide release (in common with all Euro nations) in 2009, commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Economic and Monetary Union.
Wide release (in common with all Euro nations) in 2012, commemorating the 10th anniversary of the euro coins and banknotes.
Wide release (in common with all Euro nations) in 2015, commemorating the 30th anniversary of adoption of the European flag by the European Economic Community.
Wide release in 2016, with the figure of Hibernia on top of the Dublin G.P.O. Building, commemorating the centenary of the Easter Rising.
Wide release in 2019, commemorating the centenary of the First Dáil.
Commemorative 2 Euros in 2023, commemorating 50 Years of Ireland's E.U. membership.
As 1c and 2c coins are of comparatively low value, a National Payments Plan prepared by the Central Bank of Ireland approved by the Government in April 2013 plans "to trial the use of a rounding convention in a pilot project in a mid-size Irish town", with the 1c and 2c no longer being minted while remaining legal tender. [3] The cost of producing a 1 cent coin is 1.65c and the cost of producing a 2 cent coin is 1.94c. [4]
Beginning on Wednesday 28 October 2015 Ireland followed The Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Hungary and, in introducing so-called Swedish rounding. [5] While individual prices are still shown and summed up with 1-cent precision, the total sum is then rounded to the nearest 5 cents when paying with cash. Sums ending in 1, 2, 6 and 7 cents are rounded down; sums ending in 3, 4, 8 and 9 cents are rounded up. [5]
The 1 cent and 2 cent coins remain legal tender, and rounding is voluntary for both the customer and retailer, the Central Bank of Ireland advises "for Rounding to happen, both the retailer and the customer must accept it; both will have the right to use exact change".
Rounding applies only to cash payments and does not apply to bills paid electronically - by debit card, credit card or by store card. [4]
Éire is the Irish Gaelic name for "Ireland". Like its English counterpart, the term Éire is used for both the island of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the sovereign state which governs 85% of the island's landmass. The latter is distinct from Northern Ireland, which covers the remainder of the northeast of the island. The same name is also sometimes used in English.
There are eight euro coin denominations, ranging from one cent to two euros. The coins first came into use in 2002. They have a common reverse, portraying a map of Europe, but each country in the eurozone has its own design on the obverse, which means that each coin has a variety of different designs in circulation at once. Four European microstates that are not members of the European Union use the euro as their currency and also have the right to mint coins with their own designs on the obverse side.
German euro coins have three separate designs for the three series of coins. The 1-cent, 2-cent and 5-cent coins were designed by Rolf Lederbogen, the design for the 10-cent, 20-cent and 50-cent coins were designed by Reinhard Heinsdorff and the 1- and 2-euro coins were done by Heinz Hoyer and Sneschana Russewa-Hoyer. Featured in all designs are the 12 stars of the EU and the year of minting.
Greek euro coins feature a unique design for each of the eight coins. They were all designed by Georgios Stamatopoulos with the minor coins depicting Greek ships, the middle ones portraying famous Greeks and the two large denominations showing images of Greek history and mythology. All designs feature the 12 stars of the EU, the year of imprint and a tiny symbol of the Bank of Greece. Uniquely, the value of the coins is expressed on the national side in the Greek alphabet, as well as being on the common side in the Roman alphabet. The euro cent is known as the lepto in Greek, a name which has also been used for the 1⁄100 denominations of the preceding currencies of the Greek state, the phoenix and drachma.
Dutch euro coins currently use two designs by Erwin Olaf, both of which feature a portrait of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. The new designs began circulating in 2014. Dutch Euro coins minted from 1999 to 2013 feature a portrait of Queen Beatrix designed by Bruno Ninaber van Eyben. All coins share the 12 stars of the EU and the year of imprint in their design.
French euro coins feature three separate designs for the three series of coins. The minor series was designed by Fabienne Courtiade, the middle one by Laurent Jurio and the major two coins are by Joaquin Jimenez. All designs share the 12 stars of the EU and the year of imprint as well as the letters "RF" for République Française.
Finnish euro coins feature three designs. Heikki Häiväoja provided the design for the 1 cent – 50 cent coins, Pertti Mäkinen provided the design for the 1 euro coin, and Raimo Heino provided the design for the 2 euro coin, which shows cloudberry, the golden berry of northern Finland. All designs feature the 12 stars of the EU and the year of imprint.
Austrian euro coins have a unique design for each denomination, with a common theme for each of the three series of coins. The minor coins feature Austrian flowers, the middle coins examples of architecture from Austria's capital, Vienna, and the two major coins famous Austrians. All designs are by the hand of Josef Kaiser and also include the 12 stars of the EU, Flag of Austria and the year of imprint.
Italian euro coins have a design unique to each denomination, though there is a common theme of famous Italian works of art throughout history. Each coin is designed by a different designer, from the 1 cent to the 2 euro coin they are: Eugenio Driutti, Luciana De Simoni, Ettore Lorenzo Frapiccini, Claudia Momoni, Maria Angela Cassol, Roberto Mauri, Laura Cretara and Maria Carmela Colaneri. All designs feature the 12 stars of the EU, the year of imprint, the overlapping letters "RI" for Repubblica Italiana and the letter R for Rome. There are no Italian euro coins dated earlier than 2002, even though they were certainly minted earlier, as they were first distributed to the public in December 2001.
The Sri Lankan Rupee is the currency of Sri Lanka. It is subdivided into 100 cents, but cents are rarely seen in circulation due to its low value. It is issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. The abbreviation Re (singular) and Rs (plural) is generally used, the World Bank suggests SL Rs as a fully disambiguating abbreviation for distinction from other currencies named "rupee".
There have been three sets of coins in Ireland since independence. In all three, the coin showed a Celtic harp on the obverse. The pre-decimal coins of the Irish pound had realistic animals on the reverse; the decimal coins retained some of these but featured ornamental birds on the lower denominations; and the euro coins used the common design of the euro currencies. The pre-decimal and original decimal coins were of the same dimensions as the same-denomination British coins, as the Irish pound was in currency union with the British pound sterling. British coins were widely accepted in Ireland, and conversely to a lesser extent. In 1979 Ireland joined the Exchange Rate Mechanism and the Irish pound left parity with sterling; coin designs introduced after this differed between the two countries.
The San Francisco Mint is a branch of the United States Mint. Opened in 1854 to serve the gold mines of the California Gold Rush, in twenty years its operations exceeded the capacity of the first building. It moved into a new one in 1874, now known as the Old San Francisco Mint. In 1937 Mint operations moved into a third building, the current one, completed that year.
The coins of the Fijian dollar have been part of the physical form of Fiji's currency, the Fijian dollar.
The coins of Canada are produced by the Royal Canadian Mint and denominated in Canadian dollars ($) and the subunit of dollars, cents (¢). An effigy of the reigning monarch always appears on the obverse of all coins. There are standard images which appear on the reverse, but there are also commemorative and numismatic issues with different images on the reverse.
Cash rounding or Swedish rounding occurs when the minimum unit of account is smaller than the lowest physical denomination of currency. The amount payable for a cash transaction is rounded to the nearest multiple of the minimum currency unit available, whereas transactions paid in other ways are not rounded. Cash rounding typically occurs when low-denomination coins are removed from circulation owing to inflation. Cash rounding may be a compulsory legal requirement if such coins are no longer legal tender, or a voluntary practice where they remain in circulation but are scarce or impractical.
The 1 euro cent coin (€0.01) has a value of one hundredth of a euro and is composed of copper-covered steel. It is the lowest-value coin in the Eurozone; the next highest are the 2 and 5 euro cent coins. All euro coins have a common reverse and a country-specific (national) obverse. The coin has been used since 2002 and was not redesigned in 2007 as was the case with the higher-value coins.
The 2 euro coin (€2) is the highest-value euro coin and has been used since the introduction of the euro in 2002. The coin is made of two alloys: the inner part of nickel brass, the outer part of copper-nickel. All coins have a common reverse side and country-specific national sides. The coin has been used since 2002, with the present common side design dating from 2007.
The coins of the Australian dollar were introduced on 14 February 1966, although they did not at that time include the one-dollar or two-dollar coins. The dollar was equivalent in value to 10 shillings in the former currency.
The coins of the New Zealand dollar are used for the smallest physical currency available in New Zealand. The current denominations are ten cents, twenty cents, fifty cents, one dollar and two dollars. The $1 and $2 coins are minted in a gold colour, the 20c and 50c coins are silver colour and the 10c coin is plated in copper.
This article covers euro gold and silver commemorative coins issued by the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland. It also covers rare cases of collectors coins minted using other precious metals. It does not cover either the Irish €2 commemorative coins or the Irish Pound commemorative coins.
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| Coins by country with minting rights |
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