Collectors' help

The Bank of Greece is authorized by the respective decision of the Minister of Finance to supply to the public, through its Head Office and Branches, collector coins and series of coins that are issued following a joint decision of the Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Bank of Greece.

For email ordering of collector and commemorative coins, the process to be followed is described bellow:

1. Application submission
   • First, the interested party shall fill out a Pre-Registration Form , and email it to: serv.NumProd@bankofgreece.gr. Upon receiving the form, the relevant unit of the Bank of Greece shall verify that the items requested are still in stock, enter the details of the order into its pre-registration/order database and return the pre-registration form to the applicant with the Reference Number and Date of Pre-Registration/Order corresponding to the specific order.
   • In the case that one or more kinds of coins are not available, a respective note is made in order for the applicant to be informed. Following, the order is finalized after the applicant prepays the full amount of the order, within three working days from the order date (i.e. the day of the order and the following two). Otherwise, the order shall be canceled.
2. Payment of the total amount due (for finalization of the order):

   The amount can be paid in two ways:

   • By money transfer (from a bank in Greece or abroad) to Bank of Greece Account No. GR2701000520000000059134368 – SALE OF COMMEMORATIVE COINS – BIC: BNGRGRAA. In this case, the applicant must request from the credit institution to fill in the Field Nr. 70 of the money transfer the Reference Number and Date of Pre-Registration, as well as the applicant’s full name. It is noted that this information is absolutely necessary to match the money transfer and finalize the relevant pre-registration.
   • At the counters of the Bank of Greece (Head Office or Branches) by the applicant or a person authorized to act on his/her behalf, upon presentation of valid identification (ID or passport).
3. Dispatch of commemorative / collector coins to recipients
   • Orders for recipients within Greece will be delivered by registered mail via the Hellenic Post. The postage expenses, which are prepaid, are calculated according the Hellenic Post’s price list.
   • For recipients within other European countries, orders will be dispatched by EPG (hard boxes – declared value), with minimum cost 28€ for maximum value 500€ per package. The Bank of Greece shall not be responsible for any change in postage rates.
   • In the event of non-receipt of an order, the Bank is obliged to provide the customer with the relevant dispatch details (date and number) to enable tracing of the order. The Bank of Greece shall have no further liability to the customer.
   • It is noted that each customer who has placed a remote order for numismatic products, will not be able to pick up the products ordered at the Head Office or the Branches of Bank of Greece. These will only be delivered by post.
   • During the period that quantity limitations exist regarding the supply of numismatic products, multiple applications with the same recipient will not be accepted.
   • In the case that an applicant has placed a remote order for a numismatic product and the said applicant is found to have already purchased the same product from the Head Office or any Branch of the Bank of Greece, the remote order will be automatically canceled and any fee deposited will be returned to the applicant reduced by the money transfer fees. The above referred action will take place only when the quantity restrictions are valid
   • Sales of the above products to taxable persons established in another EU Member State shall be exempt from VAT, in accordance with the provisions of Article 28 of the VAT Code. Such exemption is subject to VAT validation through the VIES system and to proof of dispatch of the goods to the purchaser’s Member State of establishment.

Collector euro coins are officially issued by euro area countries, but are not intended for circulation. Their nominal value and designs are always different than the one of the coins in circulation.

While euro circulation coins are legal tender throughout the euro area, euro collector coins are legal tender only in their country of issuance. These coins are rarely used for payment purposes, because their market value is usually much higher than their nominal value and many of them are made out of precious metals such as gold or silver.

To avoid causing confusion to the public, the technical specifications of collector coins are different from those of circulation coins. Out of the three technical parameters, namely color, diameter and weight, at least two need to be different from those of euro circulation coins.

For the design of the common side of euro coins a competition was launched at European level. The winning series were designed by Luc Luycx of the Royal Belgian Mint.

After the EU enlargement of May 1, 2004 with 10 new member states, it was deemed necessary to change the common sides of the 10-, 20- and 50-cent and €1 and €2 coins, in order to represent the new composition of the EU. The related decision was taken by the European Council on 7 June 2005.

Member states have been issuing coins with the new common sides, gradually from 2007 onwards. The new member states that adopted the euro from 2007 onwards (Slovakia, Cyprus, Malta and Slovenia) minted coins with the new common sides. 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins show the denomination, the inscription "EURO CENT", six lines and twelve stars near the edge of the lines. The middle part of the lines shows Europe in relief in relation to Africa and Asia on a globe.

10-, 20- and 50-cent coins show the denomination, the inscription "EURO CENT", six vertical straight lines and twelve stars near the edge of each line. The upper middle part of the lines shows either the European Union with the 15 Member States before the enlargement of 1 May 2004 or a geographical image of Europe as of 1 January 2007.

€1 and €2 coins show the denomination, the inscription "EURO", six vertical lines and twelve stars near the edge of each line. The right part shows either the European Union before the enlargement of 1 May 2004 or a geographical image of Europe as of 1 January 2007.