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25 ECU - Beatrix Johannes Vermeer
| Issuer | Netherlands |
|---|---|
| Year | 1996 |
| Type | Fantasy coin |
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| Obverse description | Central field features a stylized rampant lion of the Dutch coat of arms rendered in a bold, decorative manner, holding a sword and bundle of arrows. The date 1996 appears to the lower left of the lion figure. The upper legend reads KONINKRIJK DER NEDERLANDEN, arcing along the rim, while the denomination 25 ECU is inscribed along the lower rim, both flanked by a ring of twelve European Community stars. |
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| Edge | Reeded |
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| Additional information |
The ECU was never legal tender in the Netherlands — it existed as a parallel unit of account used within the European Monetary System from 1979, and Dutch commemorative ECU issues occupied an odd institutional space: official enough to carry royal authority, unofficial enough to be ignored by the central bank's circulation mandate. The 1996 Vermeer issue was released as part of a broader European cultural series timed to coincide with the major Vermeer retrospective held jointly at the Mauritshuis in The Hague and the National Gallery of Art in Washington — the largest gathering of his surviving works ever assembled.
Fewer than 36 known paintings are firmly attributed to Vermeer today.