Ville-d'Avray is one of several hundred French municipalities that issued local euro tokens in 1997–1998 as part of a coordinated promotional campaign ahead of the euro's January 1999 launch. These were not legal tender — they circulated in participating local shops and markets by voluntary agreement, functioning as a publicity exercise as much as a monetary one. The Monnaie de Paris struck many of them under contract, which accounts for the consistent quality across otherwise unrelated issuers.
The town itself is best known as Corot's preferred landscape — though the coin's existence owes nothing to that association and everything to municipal enthusiasm for the incoming currency.
Ville-d'Avray is one of several hundred French municipalities that issued local euro tokens in 1997–1998 as part of a coordinated promotional campaign ahead of the euro's January 1999 launch. These were not legal tender — they circulated in participating local shops and markets by voluntary agreement, functioning as a publicity exercise as much as a monetary one. The Monnaie de Paris struck many of them under contract, which accounts for the consistent quality across otherwise unrelated issuers.
The town itself is best known as Corot's preferred landscape — though the coin's existence owes nothing to that association and everything to municipal enthusiasm for the incoming currency.