Torre dos Clérigos

Issued year - 2013, June

250 Years of the Torre dos Clerigos

Bought on the 20th of June...

The newest portuguese commemorative coin, created by sculptor Hugo Maciel, points the 250 years of the Clérigos Tower, national monument and symbol of the city of Porto designed by the architect Nicolau Nasoni, and also shows in the background, the city of Porto viewed from the river.
Torre dos Clérigos was built between 1754 and 1763. The baroque decoration here also shows influence from the Roman Baroque, while the whole design was inspired by Tuscan campaniles. The tower is 75.6 metres high, dominating the city. There are 240 steps to be climbed to reach the top of its six floors.
A landmark in the city of Porto, construction was started on the Clérigos Tower, designed by the Tuscan architect Nicolau Nasoni following a request by the Irmandade dos Clérigos Pobres (Brotherhood of Poor Clerics). 

Issuing volume: 500.000

Find the differences

                                     Issuance year - 2013, January

50th anniversary of the signing of the Élysée Treaty

3 more commemorative coins sent by Jose, from Spain. The coin, which was designed by Yves Sampo (Monnaie de Paris), Stefanie Lindner (Berlin State Mint), Alina Hoyer (Berlin) and Sneschana Russewa-Hoyer (Berlin), depicts stylised portraits of the signatories to the Élysée Treaty (Konrad Adenauer, then Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, and Charles de Gaulle, former President of the French Republic) above their respective signatures on either side of the words “50 ANS JAHRE” and the year “2013” in the centre. The words “TRAITÉ DE L’ÉLYSÉE” and “ÉLYSÉE-VERTRAG” are centred along the top and bottom edge, respectively, of the inner part of the coin.

French coin: On the right-hand inner edge below the portrait of Adenauer, the inner part also features the “fleurette” (hallmark of the engraving workshop) and the letters “RF” to denote the issuing country, while the mint mark is located on the coin’s left-hand inner edge below the portrait of de Gaulle.

 Issuing Volume: 10.000.000

 German Coin: On the right-hand inner edge below the portrait of Adenauer, the inner part also features the mint mark   (“A”, “D”, “F”, “G” or “J”, depending on the mint concerned), as well as the letter “D” to denote the issuing country.

Issuing Volume: 11.000.000

  

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From Slovenia, via Spain...

Issuance year - 2013, February 800th anniversary of visits to Postojna Cave

5 commemorative coins were sent to me by Jose, from Murcia, in our last swap, last march, in exchange for several portuguese commemorative coins. Depicted in the image are 2 very original slovenian 2013 commemorative coins and 3 others.

The central image of the coin is a stylised spiral, which at the left side of the coin begins with inscription ‘POSTOJNSKA JAMA • 1213–2013 • SLOVENIJA’ and ends with two stylised speleothems. 

See next post to discover what are the coins in the background.

Issuing volume: 1.000.000

Luxembourg Royal Highness

Issued year - 2012, January
The Grand-Duke Henri and the Grand-Duke Guillaume IV from the series "grand-ducal dynasty".

Depicted in the image's foreground is another commemorative coin, sent by Jose, from Spain, last year, in exchange for several portuguese commemorative coins.
The coin depicts, on the left of its inner part the effigy of His Royal Highness, the Grand-Duke Henri, looking to the right, and superimposed of the effigy of the Grand-Duke Guillaume IV, looking to the right. The text "GRANDS-DUCS DE LUXEMBOURG" and the year-date "2012", flanked by the mintmark and the initials of the Mintmaster, appear above of effigies on the inner part of the coin. In front of the effigies, the outline of the city Luxembourg appears as background. The names "HENRI" and "GUILLAUME IV" as well as the text "† 1912" are depicted below their respective effigies. 

See last two posts

Issuing volume: 1.400.000

Abbé Pierre

Issuance year - 2012, July

The 100th anniversary of the birth of the Abbé Pierre, famous in France as protector of the Poor

One more UNC commemorative coin sent by Jose, from Murcia, Spain, last year, in exchange for several portuguese commemorative coins.
This beautiful french coin depicts a portrait of the Abbé Pierre, with its béret, and the logo of its foundation, with a microtext mentioning `Et les autres?´ which was its favorite motto to recall that one should never forget to help the others. The letters `RF´ do appear for `Republique française´ together with the horn of plenty, mintmark of Monnaie de Paris on the left side, and the `fleurette´, hallmark of the engraving workshop on the right side. The coin´s outer ring depicts the 12 stars of the European flag.

See last and next posts...

Issuing volume: 1.000.000

Spanish twins

Ten Years of Euro Banknotes and Coins - TYE

In our last swap, in 2012, Jose, from Murcia, Spain, sent me 7 UNC commemorative coins and also the currency 2010 1 € S.Marino coin, all depicted in the image, in exchange for several portuguese commemorative coins. In the foreground are two Spanish 2012 TYE coins. The inner part of the coin, designed by Helmut Andexlinger of the Austrian Mint and chosen by citizens and residents of the euro area to be the common commemorative coin for 2012, features the world in the form of a euro symbol in the centre, showing how the euro has become a true global player over the last ten years. The surrounding elements symbolise the importance of the euro to ordinary people (represented by a family group), to the financial world (the Eurotower), to trade (a ship), to industry (a factory), and to the energy sector and research and development (two wind turbines).This is the third time the euro-area members have decided to collectively issue a commemorative coin. The first was in 2007, when the finance ministers of the then thirteen countries agreed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome with a single commemorative coin and the second time was in 2009 when sixteen countries celebrated 10 years of the EMU.

See next posts.

Issuing volume: 8.000.000