As of: March 16, 2024, 3:57 p.m
By: David Holzner
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Two-euro coins are traded online for several thousand euros.
Misprinting is usually the reason.
How to recognize rare coins.
Although the Girocard is becoming increasingly popular, Germany remains a cash country.
According to a 2023
study by the research and consulting institute
EHI, 58.4 percent of retail transactions were settled in cash.
The Germans are said to have resorted to banknotes and coins, especially for smaller amounts.
But if you spend the wrong two-euro coin at the bakery, you may unknowingly miss out on high collector's values.
Rare two-euro coins: How to recognize incorrect minting
In private sales on the
ebay.de
platform , rare two-euro coins are being offered for dizzying sums.
As a rule, these are incorrect mintings, which can cause the value of the coin to multiply very quickly.
For example, when you search the online marketplace, you find an advertisement in which the seller wants a whopping 28,000 euros for his coin.
But are the coins really worth it?
And how do you recognize such coins in your wallet?
It might be worth taking a closer look at the two-euro coin in your wallet.
(Symbolic image) © Lobeca/IMAGO
Mismintings are coins that are not actually allowed to be issued due to an error, but are still used in payment transactions.
This is how the coin trading company
Historia Hamburg
describes it .
These include errors in the motif or material.
The rarest misprints at a glance:
The “fried egg”:
One of the best-known misprints is the so-called “fried egg”.
This is a production defect that is very noticeable and can therefore usually be recognized at first glance.
It looks like the yolk of a fried egg, so the inside of the coin would run over the silver edge.
Incorrect maps of Europe:
The same side of the two-euro coin shows the EU member states.
After there were new accessions between 2004 and 2007, a new design was introduced.
However, this change was overlooked for some coins from 2007.
Now these pieces of money are considered very valuable.
Mono-metal coinage:
The two-euro coin is a bi-metal coin.
This means that it consists of two different metals or alloys.
This can be easily recognized by the gold interior and silver edge of the two-euro coin.
According to
Historia Hamburg
, however, there are also incorrect mintings in which the coin only consists of one of the two components.
A so-called mono-metal embossing.
But not every unusual-looking coin is unique.
Historia Hamburg
warns against buying expensive incorrect coinage.
According to this, there are numerous alleged misprints circulating on the internet that are not actually coins at all.
In an article on
Handelsblatt.com
from March 2024, the managing director of the Professional Association of German Coin Dealers, Stefan Lutter, warns against selling supposedly valuable coins on well-known platforms such as eBay and co.
to acquire.
Euro coins with self-proclaimed incorrect minting are increasingly being offered there with dubious intentions.
This could, for example, be damage or wear on the coin, which could be incorrectly interpreted as a misminting.
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Instead of misminting: Pay attention to collectibles and commemorative coins
In addition to incorrect mintings, it is primarily commemorative or special coins that fetch the highest prices at auctions.
According to the collectors platform
Muenzen.eu,
commemorative coins from the small states of Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican are the most valuable.
A Grace Kelly commemorative coin from Monaco from 2007 is being traded on eBay.de for around 3,300 euros.
Commemorative coins of this type are permitted as a means of payment throughout Europe and differ only in the special motif on their reverse.
Although they are very rare, they could end up in your wallet in a roundabout way.
Look out for unusual motifs on your two euro coins.
The commemorative coin for the 2004 Olympics in Athens was the first of its kind. © agefotostock/IMAGO
According to Historia Hamburg,
the first two-euro commemorative coin was
issued by Greece on the occasion of the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 and shows an ancient discus thrower.
Germany also mints commemorative coins every year.
As part of the European agreements, the federal government mints an additional two-euro circulation coin each year with a commemorative character and a different national reverse.
These coins will be gradually put into circulation as part of the normal cash needs of banks and retailers and will therefore sooner or later appear in payment transactions, as the
German Bundesbank
announces.
How do I recognize a rare coin?
If you now have a coin in front of you that seems unusual to you, you need to determine its value.
MDM Münzhandelsgesellschaft
recommends the
following steps:
The Internet and Google can provide initial clues.
Enter everything that can be read on the coin.
This will help you get as many hits as possible.
You may be able to roughly estimate the price to be achieved through results in online auction houses, specialist magazines or coin catalogs.
Rate the coin according to the following criteria.
The better the classification, the higher the price that can be achieved: rarity (edition), age and condition
For in-depth specialist knowledge, it is best to visit an expert.
A sworn expert is the best choice, but
MDM
says a local coin dealer can also provide information.
So it's worth taking a closer look at the coins in your wallet.
Maybe your two euro coin will become an investment.
However, purchasing alleged incorrect embossing on online portals should be avoided.
“There are no euro circulation coins that have a five or six-digit collector’s value,” explains Stefan Lutter in the article on
Handelsblatt.com.
If you still want to purchase collector coins, you can do so in various bank branches, such as the Deutsche Bundesbank.