Identifying marks on euro coins

The coinage acts of countries with a mintage date stipulation specify that the year the coin is minted, regardless of when the coins are issued, should appear on each coin. Belgium, Finland, France, the Netherlands and Spain have mintage date stipulations.

The coinage acts of countries with an issue date stipulation specify that the year the coin is issued, regardless of when the coins are minted, should appear on each coin. Austria, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, San Marino and the Vatican City have issue date stipulations.

Since the euro was first issued in 2002, the countries which have an issue date stipulation are all dated 2002 onward, even though these coins were minted in previous years to prepare for the adoption of the euro. As a result, there are no euro coins dated 1999, 2000 and 2001 issued from countries with an issue date stipulation.

Luxembourg has no domestic mint, so their coins are minted elsewhere. Regardless of the mintage location of these coins, the issue date stipulation in their coinage act must be followed by whichever country mints their coins and the date stamp is therefore applied accordingly.

Since Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican City do not have their own coinage acts, the date stamp is applied in accordance with the coinage act of whichever country mints these coins. France produces the euro coins for Monaco and follows the mintage date stipulation; it began minting Monégasque euro coins only in 2001, since the mintage quantities were so low. Sammarinese and Vatican euro coins are minted in Italy and follow the issue date stipulation.

The directors of the Monnaie Royale de Belgique/Koninklijke Munt van België (Royal Belgian Mint) in Brussels uses mint master's marks on all €2 commemorative coins and on all Belgian euro coins with a datestamp from 2008 onwards minted at this location.

Mint master marks on Belgian euro coins

Mark	Mark description	Name of mint master	Coin dates
	Scale	Romain Coenen	1999–2009 (€2 commemorative coins) 2008–2009 (standard issue euro coins)
[6]	Quill	Serge Lesens	2009-2012 (€2 commemorative coins) 2010–2012 (standard issue euro coins)
[7]	Cat	Bernard Gillard	2012-2016 (Commemorative coins) 2013-2016 (standard issue euro coins)
[8]	Coat of arms	Ingrid van Herzele	2017–2022
[9]	Aster and erlenmeyer	Giovanni Van de Velde	2023–present

The director of the Rahapaja Oy (Mint of Finland, LTD.) mint in Helsinki-Vantaa used a mint master's mark on Finnish euro coins minted at this location with the date stamp between 1999 and 2006.

The directors of Monnaie de Paris in Pessac use mint master's marks on all French euro coins minted at this location.

Mint master marks on French euro coins

Mark	Mark description	Name of mint master	Coin dates
	Bee	Pierre Rodier	1999–2000
	Horseshoe	Gérard Buquoy	2001–2002
	Stylised heart with the initials of the mint master	Serge Levet	2003
[4]	Hunting horn, a wave and a fish	Hubert Larivière	2004–2010
[10]	Pentagon with letters AG, MP and YS	Yves Sampo	2011–2020
[11]	Square with letters JJ	Joaquin Jimenez	2021–present

Luxembourg euro coins dated 2002 were minted in the Netherlands in 2000 and thus bear the mint master mark of E. J. van Schauwenburg, Temporary Director of the Utrecht Mint during the year of coin production. The Coinage Act of Luxembourg stipulates that national coins cannot have a date stamp prior to the year of issue. Therefore, Luxembourg euro coins bear the mint master mark of the Temporary Director at the time of minting, despite the date on the coins.

Coins dated 2003–2004 bear the mint master mark of Maarten Brouwer, Director of the Utrecht Mint from 2003–2015. Luxembourgian euro coins dated 2005–2006 were produced at Rahapaja Oy (Mint of Finland), in Helsinki-Vantaa, Finland. Since the mint director does not affix a mint master mark to coins in production at that location, these coins do not bear a mint master mark but an S[5] and the logo of the 'Suomen Rahapaja' instead.

Luxembourg euro coins dated 2007-2008 were produced at Monnaie de Paris, in Pessac, France and bear the mint master mark of Hubert Larivière, Director of the Paris Mint.

As of 2009, coins are again minted at the Royal Dutch Mint in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Until 2015 it was again the mint master mark of Maarten Brouwer. From 2016-2017 Kees Bruinsma was the Temporary Director of the Utrecht Mint.

Mint master marks on Luxembourgian euro coins

Mark	Mark description	Name of mint master	Coin dates
	Bow and arrow with a star[12]	E. J. van Schauwenburg	2002
	Sailboat	Maarten Brouwer	2003–2004
[4]	Hunting horn, a wave and a fish	Hubert Larivière	2007–2008
	Sailboat	Maarten Brouwer	2009–2015
	Sailboat with a star[12]	Kees Bruinsma	2016–2017
[13]	St. Servatius Bridge	Stephan Satijn	2017–present

Monegasque euro coins are produced by Monnaie de Paris, in Pessac, France beginning in 2001 and thus bear the mint master mark of Gérard Buquoy, Serge Levet, Hubert Larivière and Yves Sampo Directors of the Mint from 2001–2002, 2003, 2004–2010 and 2011–present respectively.

Mint master marks on Monegasque euro coins

Mark	Mark description	Name of mint master	Coin dates
	Horseshoe	Gérard Buquoy	2001–2002
	Stylised heart with the initials of the mint master	Serge Levet	2003
[4]	Hunting horn, a wave and a fish	Hubert Larivière	2004–2010[14]
[10]	Pentagon with letters AG, MP and YS	Yves Sampo	2011–2020
	Square with letters JJ	Joaquin Jimenez	2021–present

The mint masters of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Munt (Royal Dutch Mint) in Utrecht use mint master's marks on all Dutch euro coins minted at this location.[15]

Mint master marks on Dutch euro coins

Mark	Mark description	Name of mint master	Coin dates
	Bow and arrow	Drs. Chr. van Draanen	1999
	Bow and arrow with a star[12]	E. J. van Schauwenburg	2000
	Vine branch and fruits	R. Bruens	2001
	Vine branch and fruits with a star[12]	Maarten Brouwer	2002
	Sailboat	Maarten Brouwer	2003–2015
	Sailboat with a star[12]	Kees Bruinsma	2016–2017
[16]	Bridge	Stephan Satijn	2017–present

Slovenian euro coins dated 2008 were produced at Koninklijke Nederlandse Munt in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and bear the mint master mark of Maarten Brouwer, director of the Royal Dutch Mint from 2003 until 2015.

Mint master mark on Slovenian euro coins 2008

Mark	Mark description	Name of mint master	Coin dates
	Sailboat	Maarten Brouwer	2008

Generally the edge inscription of a €2 commemorative coin does not change from the standard issue counterpart. There are a few exceptions.

Commemorative €2 edge inscriptions by issue date

Year and Country	Edge inscription	Description
Finland (2005)		"YK 1945–2005 FN" ("UN 1945–2005 UN" in Finnish and Swedish, the official languages of Finland) followed by three lion's heads. "YK" stands for "Yhdistyneet Kansakunnat" and "FN" stands for "Förenta Nationerna". Issued to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations and Finland's 50 year membership in the UN.[21]
Finland (2007)		"ROMFÖRDRAGET 50 ÅR EUROPA" ("TREATY OF ROME 50 YEARS EUROPE" in Swedish, one of the official languages of Finland. The same words in Finnish - "ROOMAN SOPIMUS 50 V EUROOPPA" - appear on the face of this coin). Issued to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome.[22]
Finland (2009)		"TALOUS-JA RAHALIITTO EMU" ("ECONOMIC AND MONETARY UNION EMU" in Finnish, one of the official languages of Finland. Issued to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union.

In 2008, a European Commission's recommendation was approved in which the following was stated: "The legend engraved on the edge of the commemorative euro coins intended for circulation must be the same as that on the normal euro coins intended for circulation."[23] In 2012, a European Regulation was approved in which, with a binding nature, the previous restriction was specified.[24]