2012 Greece Euro Cent

"I'm on a boat!" Well maybe nit but a boat is how I identified this euro as Greek. It has one of those ancient boats with many oars and sails.

The Athenian trireme is an oar ship with three tiers it was one if the most well built and powerful battle ships of its day. I cannot read the word below the ship and the letters looks Russian to me. Still The boat has a distinctive Greek design so that is how you can identify this coin.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 1 Euro Cent / Greece
Year: 2012
Mintage: 47,967,500   
Metal: Copper Plated Steel: 94.35% Steel 5.65% Copper
Value: $0.05 in F

Update: From DR, "the word below the ship is LEPTO (cent)".

Do you have a Euro coin and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

2002 Greece 20 Euro Cent

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This was one of the first Euros I found before I started this blog. Since I am going through all my old coins it finally made an appearance. The first and most common of the Greek 20 Euro Cents it was minted at the Greek National Mint in Athens. This is known because it does not have a mint mark letter under the date in the star.

Greek Euros from 2002 sometimes had little mintmark letters hidden in a star.

 

The ones with mint marks were made outside of Greece. They tend to have more value since they were made in lesser amounts.

Type/Country: 20 Euro Cents / Greece
Year: 2002
Mintage: 208,940,055
Metal: Brass
Value: $1.25 in Uncirculated

Do you have any coin from Greece and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

Greece Economic Crisis

In short Greece said they owed a lot of money then they said whoops we owe twice as much. Their solution was having their citizens pitch in and work a little more. The people went crazy and rioted no way. At the end the rest of Europe held a bake sale or something and helped Greece out.

Here are three coins that illustrate the fall of Greece.

First on the left is a 1960 silver 20 Drachmai. It is 83.5% silver and has only gained value over the last 51 years. Made during the Kingdom time where the government was unstable but the economy grew steadily.
Current value: $7.00

The center coin is a 1984 copper-nickel 20 Drachmes. At this time Greece was part of NATO, the EU, and other groups with cool acronyms. Tourism and shipping ushered a golden age of work and prosperity for the Greeks. Oh but they wanted more. Modern Greeks had some of the best benefit packages ever and expanded by borrowing.
Current value: $0.50

Last on the right is a 2002 non-E in star 20 Euro Cents. To become part of the official European Union Greece showed it was strong and adopted the Euro and all that came with it. Sure the Euro soared but so did the debt and spending. Refusing to give up their somewhat lavish lifestyles Greece could not handle the recession. Shipping of oil and goods became dominated by other countries with better technologies. Tourism slowed as people stayed close to home instead of traveling.
Current value: $0.30

It is a bit more complicated but the coins share a similar fate. Staying strong because how it is made then making a few compromises here and there and finally relying on others to set the standard. At the end Greece will not collapse but they also will not shine bright. That golden Euro has no gold.

2007 Greece 5 Euro Cent

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Finally a non-Canadian world coin. This is the latest it ever took to get a true foreign coin.

Sure Euros are among the most common finds outside the U.S. and Canada coins but this is only my second Greek Euro I have found.

 

The obverse features a freighter which I guess modern Greece is famous for but I do not really associate that kind of boat with them.

Type/Country: 5 Euro Cents / Greece
Year: 2007
Mintage: 55,005,598 (estimate this may change)
Metal: Copper Plated Steel
Value: $0.10 in Fine

Do you have any foreign coin and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

Like Another Hole In Your...

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Again those Canadian cents are trying to get my attention. I found another one yesterday oddly enough in the past month the four I found span four decades, 2006, 1997, 1985, and 1978. Still I will try to ignore them as much as possible.

Coin lots are generally full of junk coins meaning some are excellent but common while some are rare and damaged. For this coin from Greece someone insisted on turning it into a pendant.

While I'm not the biggest fan of 1800s coins I do know something about them. This one in particular is highly sought after in mint states. On average if undamaged and at Mint State 60 it would go for $1,000.00. This is the 1833-A which is rarer than the 1833 that is also hard to come by in high grades.

Look at the coin above you see why overtime they become rare. Some person thought, "Whoa never seen this must be rare let me nail a hole through it and keep it safely around my neck." You can see marks where the coin was held down to drill/nail also it started to warp. This damage drops coin value to nothing unless rare. The question becomes is this one rare enough.

Book value places a fine piece at about $50.00 while auction values hover around $80.00. Nothing compared to the 1845(o) Drachma that in fine condition goes for $1,100. At this point dropping the value by 90% seems appropriate. It is still silver.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 1 Drachma / Greece
Year: 1833 A
Mintage: Not fully known, less than 1,125,000
Metal: Silver
Value: $5.00 in Damaged condition

So should you take that state quarter and turn it into a pendant? What if some future collector finds it and wants to kick you in the head?

Go for it. You can't play the "what if" game. I can only hope you do a little research in case you feel it might be rare but ultimately every damaged coin does raise the value for the rest that still float around.

Do you have a Greek coin and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

Still Not Listed

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Recently I got some books about world coins and some people have commented that the book doesn't list certain coins. This is true and one of the biggest problems when collecting modern world coins.

Today I found a Euro from 2006 and quickly looked in my World Coin Book for all the stats and guess what? Nothing. No information what so ever. They stop listing Greek Euros after 2005.

I have other resources so I got most of the information I needed. It is a very beautiful coin and any lines or stuff on the coin is from the scanner.

Type/Country: 5 Euro Cents/Greece
Year: 2006
Mintage: 50,000,000( estimate this may change)
Metal: Copper Plated Steel
Value: $1.00 in UNC

Do you have any foreign coin and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.