1 Euro - Arles

Arles was among hundreds of French municipalities that issued local currency tokens during the late 1990s in anticipation of the euro's arrival, a phenomenon that produced an enormous variety of aluminium bronze pieces of wildly uneven quality and collectibility. These civic issues had no legal tender status — they circulated by local agreement, typically accepted by participating merchants as a tourism promotion tool. Arles leaned into its Roman heritage and Van Gogh association to push uptake. Most pieces saw minimal handling and survive in essentially unimpaired condition, which keeps values modest across the board.