Guimarães 2012

Issued year - 2012, June

Guimarães - European Capital of Culture 2012

I bought them a few hours ago, along with hundreds of other people trying to do the same, at the Portugal Bank...

The newest portuguese commemorative coin depicts a stylised image of Afonso Henriques, the first King of Portugal, together with his sword and the Castle of Guimarães, which is regarded as the birthplace of Portugal as an independent nation in the 12th century. To the left of the image is the Portuguese shield above the word “PORTUGAL”. To the lower right is the inscription “GUIMARÃES 2012” with the logo of Guimarães 2012 European Capital of Culture. Along the lower edge of the inner part are the mintmark “INCM” and the name of the designer, “JOSÉ DE GUIMARÃES”. 

Issuing volume: 500.000

TYE - Ten Years of Euro banknotes and coins

Depicted in the image is the result of my first swap with Jose, from Murcia, Spain, last February. He sent me these magnificent TYE 2012 commemorative coins (from Estonia, Slovakia, Germany and Greece, and also the 2011 "The Special Olympics World Summer Games - Athens 2011" Greek coin , in exchange for several portuguese commemorative coins.

Citizens and residents of the euro area have selected the winning design for this new euro coin issued by all euro area countries to commemorate ten years of euro banknotes and coins in January 2012. Using web-voting, they had five designs to choose from. Those designs had been pre-selected by a professional jury at the close of a design competition that was open to citizens from all euro area countries.

The winning design symbolises the way in which the euro has become a true global player over the past ten years, as well as its importance in day-to-day life, with various aspects being depicted: ordinary people (the family of four), trade (the ship), industry (the factory) and energy (the wind power stations).

The design was created by Helmut Andexlinger, a professional designer at the Austrian Mint.

Issuing volume: 

Greece 2011 - 1.000.000 

Estonia TYE - 6.000.000 

Germany TYE - 30.000.000 (5 different mintmarks - A, D, F, G and J - 6 million for each)

Slovakia TYE - 1.000.000 

Greece TYE - 1.000.000.