Commemorative coin

A commemorative coin is a coin that is reminiscent of their motive and / or its inscription on a memorable event or an important personality.

Previously attended commemorative coins often on the ruler, his family or other state political issues relating, such as births, marriages or deaths in the royal house, throne anniversaries or wars won. They thus also a propaganda function. Today, commemorative coins are mainly coined to them to collectors for sale and thus to realize a financial gain (coin ).

Commemorative coins are legal tender by definition, their outstanding ability but - unlike coin - often only theoretical because usually at least one of the following applies to them:

• Their face value can be impractical for payments,
• They may be unknown among the population,
• They may have been issued at a price higher than the face value, or
• They can be sold on the international market, where they have no legal course.

Quite different behaves this in the two-euro commemorative coins. These are marked since 2006 in Germany with a circulation of over 30 million pieces annually especially for the circulation and accepted as payment in practice.

Impressions that have similar functions meet as commemorative coins, but by definition, no cash value, are called medals. An intermediate position between medals and coins take a lot of pseudo coins; often, these are around manufactured by local private companies imprints, which are then placed on the European market in license on behalf of African or Australasian small states. Formally, they can be legal tender, but an actual payment locally is therefore usually not possible. In any case, these commercial issues have a value in excess of the metal numismatic value, since the number of unmanageable and their design selection more or less arbitrarily ( " animals ", "China ", etc.). This is contrary to the form, as these pieces are advertised and priced in newspaper advertising or teleshopping as rarities.