1 euro de la caisse d'épargne des Pays de Loire

Issued in 1997 ahead of the euro's 1999 financial introduction, this piece is one of dozens of locally produced "euro" tokens struck by French regional savings banks, municipalities, and chambers of commerce. The Caisse d'Épargne network used these as promotional instruments during the public education campaign around EMU adoption — they circulated briefly in affiliated shops and markets as proof-of-concept tender. The Pays de Loire issue is among the more common regional variants, the savings bank network in that region being one of the larger participants in the scheme.