1 euro de Vienne [38]

One of hundreds of local euro precursor tokens issued across France in the late 1990s under the COEI framework, these pieces allowed municipalities to rehearse a cashless-adjacent exchange economy ahead of the single currency's 1999 introduction. Vienne, a mid-sized Isère commune better known for its Roman ruins and jazz festival, joined dozens of French towns in commissioning brass tokens denominated in "euros" before the official coinage existed at all — a peculiar administrative footnote to monetary union.