10 Francs Euro 2004: Spain

This piece belongs to a sprawling series of collector tokens issued by the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the early 2000s — a country with no practical connection to the euro currency whatsoever. The DRC issued coins denominated in "francs," and licensing arrangements with European distributors produced a flood of silver-plated pieces nominally commemorating euro coinage of various nations, sold almost exclusively to the novelty collector market rather than circulating anywhere.

Spain adopted the euro on January 1, 2002, retiring the peseta after more than 130 years of continuous use.