The Bundesbank is entrusted with the task of ensuring that sufficient cash is available for the execution of payments. It is not involved in the business of trading coins and therefore cannot provide any information regarding their collector's value.

Various coin catalogues containing information on DM coins can be accessed in libraries or purchased from booksellers.

These kinds of resources do not yet exist for suspected mint error euro coins. Such coins can, of course, be exchanged at their nominal value at all Bundesbank branches.

As was previously the case for Deutsche Mark coins, German euro coins are minted in the five German coin mints. The coins can be distinguished by the mintmark. The total number of coins to be minted is split between the mints using a fixed allocation formula.

Further details are provided in the “Euro coins” brochure.

Due to the fact that Germany is the only euro-area country which has several mints, the coins of other countries can usually be traced back to their mints by looking at their reverse, or “national” side. Some countries, however, have their euro coins minted in other countries. Luxemburg’s euro coins, for example, are minted in the Netherlands, Slovenia and Cyprus have their coins minted in Finland and French mints produce coins for Malta. The small states Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican City State, which have signed agreements with the EU entitling them to issue euro coins, have had their euro coins minted in France and Italy. 

Futher information can be found in the brochure on euro coins "Euro-Münzen" (in German only)

The following table shows the initial supply of euro coins in the euro area.

For further information on the initial supply of coins and the subsequent minting volumes in each of the participating states, please contact the monetary authorities concerned. You can find further details on the minting statistics in Germany under "Orders to mint coins for circulation".

Which way up the lettering is on the rim of the coin is completely irrelevant as far as the authenticity of the coin is concerned. It simply has to do with the production process. The lettering is stamped on the rim before the denomination and the motif are imprinted on the obverse and reverse of the coins. When the blank coins reach the stage of having the denomination and the motif stamped on them, the large number of coins involved and the industrial manufacturing process make it impossible to ensure that the blanks are all lying the same way round.

The manufacturing process itself and the manner in which the coins have been stored may lead to certain minor differences in the colour of the coins. However, this has no effect on the status of the coins as legal tender.

As coins are manufactured industrially, the coin colour may vary slightly owing to the method of manufacturing and to current storage practices. This does not, however, affect the status of the coins as legal tender.

In the mid-1990s the cut-off between regular issue coins and banknotes was set between €2 and €5 at a European level, as there seemed to be no reason to mint coins for denominations above €2. This is mainly because no regular issue coins with such a high nominal value were used in any European country. There are therefore no plans to introduce €5 regular issue coins at present or in the foreseeable future.

Regardless of this situation the Federal Government has announced an addition to the coin collection programme for the first half of 2016: an innovative €5 "Planet Earth" collector coin.

The table below provides an overview of the technical characteristics of euro coins with information regarding the diameter, thickness, weight, shape, colour and edge inscriptions of the coins.

Below you will find additional information on the composition of euro coins.

• €2: outer ring - cupronickel; inner section (three layers) - nickel-brass, nickel, nickel-brass (slightly magnetic)
• €1: outer ring - nickel-nickel, inner section (three layers) - cupronickel, nickel, cupronickel (slightly magnetic)
• 50 cent: copper, aluminium, zinc, tin alloy = "Nordic gold" (non-magnetic)
• 20 cent: copper, aluminium, zinc, tin alloy = "Nordic gold" (non-magnetic)
• 10 cent: copper, aluminium, zinc, tin alloy = "Nordic gold" (non-magnetic)
• 5 cent: copper-coated steel (highly magnetic)
• 2 cent: copper-coated steel (highly magnetic)
• 1 cent: copper-coated steel (highly magnetic)

The symbol often mistaken for the number '4' is actually two letter 'Ls' intertwined. Luc Luycx, an employee at the Royal Belgian Mint who designed the euro coins' common face, was permitted to work his initials into the chosen design by adding this symbol to the bottom right-hand quarter of their front side.

The competent authorities in the respective country are still responsible for deciding which images appear on the reverse side of the coins, as coinage remains a national matter. Individual countries can therefore independently change the image on the reverse side of their coins, provided they comply with certain design rules that have been agreed within the EU. These changes must be announced through national channels as well as in the Official Journal of the European Union.

The decision in Germany regarding the design of the reverse sides was made at the beginning of July 1997. In line with the decision made at European level, a jury comprising representatives of various ministries, mint directors, sculptors, historians and museum directors agreed to separate the coins into the following three groups.

• €1 and €2
• 10, 20 and 50 cents
• 1, 2 and 5 cents

It was decided that each group would have a common motif. With regard to the content, the jury selected symbols which, in their own way, would all be recognised as typically German by Germans and non-Germans alike. The following motifs were thus suggested:

• The eagle, a traditional German national emblem, was suggested for the €1 and €2 coins
• The symbolic Brandenburg Gate was suggested for the coin denominations 10, 20 and 50 cents
• An oak twig was suggested for the dominations 1,2 and 5 cents because it was reminiscent of the earlier pfennig coins.

The Federal Government approved this proposal in its decision dated 17 September 1997. The reverse sides of the German euro coins were designed by Sneschana Russewa-Hoyer and Heinz Hoyer (the German eagle), Reinhart Heinsdorff (the Brandenburg Gate) and Professor Rolf Lederbogen (the oak twig).

The common front side of the euro coins was modified in 2007 in accordance with a decision made by the European Council to reflect the accession of additional countries to the euro area.

As well as the 18 countries belonging to the euro area, the small states Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican City State were given the right to mint and issue fixed contingents of euro coins with their own national reverse sides.

Special agreements were reached with these countries because of their previous exchange rate regimes and close financial ties with France, Italy and Spain. Agreements with other countries are not envisaged. Based on the volumes minted by France, Italy and Spain, the four small countries minted the following initial supply volumes (amount in thousands of coins).

Given that regular issue euro coins are legal tender in all euro-area countries, it is neither obligatory nor necessary to transport coins back to issuing countries.

Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 of 3 May 1998 on the introduction of the euro stipulates that within the euro area no party other than the issuing authority and persons specifically named in national legislation is obliged to accept more than 50 coins in any single payment transaction. The regulation does not specify a value.

The Coinage Act (Münzgesetz) of 16 December 1999, which was last amended by Article 33 of the Act on 8 May 2008 (Münzgesetz 2008), supplements this provision with respect to German euro commemorative coins and defines the persons to be named (section 3 (1) and (2) of the Coinage Act of 2008). The obligation to accept German commemorative coins denominated in euro is limited to €200 per payment. In addition, the acceptance limit of a maximum of 50 coins also applies where a single payment is made in both ordinary euro coins and German commemorative coins (section 3 (1)). In section 3 (2) the Bundesbank is required to accept as payment media an unlimited number of euro coins and German euro-denominated commemorative coins, regardless of the sum concerned, or to exchange these coins for other legal tender.

Special technical requirements apply to deposits of euro coins by commercial customers at the Deutsche Bundesbank. These are laid down in the "Guidelines for the packaging of coin rolls in foil packs" (in German only). The guidelines and additional information can be found within "Cash services".