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15 ECUs - Elizabeth II Henry the Lion / Heinrich der Löwe
| Issuer | Gibraltar Government |
|---|---|
| Year | 1995 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 1.24 g |
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| Obverse description | Right-facing crowned effigy of Queen Elizabeth II, draped and wearing a pearl necklace with pendant, modeled after the Raphael Maklouf portrait. The legend ELIZABETH II runs along the left arc, while GIBRALTAR and the date 1995 appear along the right arc. The Pobjoy Mint privy mark PM appears in the lower field below the truncation. A fine reeded border surrounds the entire design. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
The ECU — European Currency Unit — was never legal tender in the conventional sense, existing only as a basket currency and accounting unit within the European Monetary System from 1979 onward. Gibraltar exploited a productive gap: by issuing ECU-denominated collector coins through the 1990s, it positioned itself ahead of anticipated European monetary integration while the unit still carried political prestige. When the euro replaced the ECU at a fixed 1:1 rate in 1999, the entire series became a footnote to a currency that circulated in ledgers but never in pockets.
Henry the Lion's appearance here reflects his enduring status in German civic memory — Duke of Saxony and Bavaria until his 1180 deposition by Frederick Barbarossa, after which he spent years in exile at the Plantagenet court of Henry II. The cross-dynastic connection gave Gibraltar's issuer just enough historical thread to pair him with Elizabeth II.