BELGIUM silver 5 ecu 1997 Treaty of Rome

DescriptionThe Brussels mint made a series of ecu demoninated “bullion coins” in the 1980s and 90s before the European Union picked the “euro” as its currency.If someone produces a thing that says it’s a coin but the country doesn’t exist, or some part of it is non-standard, we tend to call that a “fantasy.” Like a “coin” from Atlantis. Jewelry coins are jewelry bits made to look like coins. That is different from taking real coins and making them into jewelry.The word “exonumia” is used to describe all kinds of things that are “like” coins but are not coins. I wrote a blog post on that subject. Basic categories: 1. used like a coin but not issued by a national government, 2. looks like a coin but not made for spending, 3. other things that we are interested in.