Euro gold and silver commemorative coins are special

euro coins There are eight euro coin denominations, ranging from one cent to two euros (the euro is divided into a hundred cents). The coins first came into use in 2002. They have a common reverse, portraying a map of Europe, but each country in the eurozone ...

minted and issued by member states of the

Eurozone The euro area, commonly called eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro ( €) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU polici ...

, mainly in

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

and

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

, although other precious metals are also used on rare occasions.

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

is scheduled to introduced the euro (€) on 1 January 2009. The

National Bank of Slovakia National Bank of Slovakia ( sk, Národná banka Slovenska, NBS), is the central bank of Slovakia, a member state of the European Union since 2004 and of the euro area since 2009. It was formed on from the division of the State Bank of Czechos ...

, together with the Kremnica Mint, will be issuing both normal issues of Slovak euro coins, which are intended for circulation, and commemorative euro coins in gold and silver. These special coins have a

legal tender Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which when offered ("tendered") in ...

only in Slovakia, unlike the normal issues of the Slovak euro coins, which have a legal tender in every country of the Eurozone. This means that the commemorative coins made of gold and silver cannot be used as money in other countries. Furthermore, as their bullion value generally vastly exceeds their face value, these coins are not intended to be used as means of payment at all—although it remains possible. For this reason, they are usually named Collectors' coins. The coins usually commemorate the

anniversaries An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saints. ...

of historical events or draw attention to current events of special importance. Slovakia has announced that two of these coins will be minted in 2009, both in silver, with face value of 10 and 20 euros.

Summary

As of 9 October 2008, 2 variations of Slovak commemorative coins have been scheduled to be minted in 2009. These special high-value commemorative coins are not to be confused with

€2 commemorative coins €2 commemorative coins are special euro coins minted and issued by member states of the eurozone since 2004 as legal tender in all eurozone member states. Only the national obverse sides of the coins differ; the common reverse sides do not. The ...

, which are coins designated for circulation and do have legal tender status in all countries of the Eurozone. The following table shows the number of coins minted per year. In the first section, the coins are grouped by the metal used, while in the second section they are grouped by their face value.

Summary

2009 coinage

2010 coinage

References