25 ECU Enric Granados

The ECU — European Currency Unit — was a basket currency and accounting tool, never intended for circulation, which made it an attractive vehicle for commemorative programs throughout the 1980s and 90s. Spain's series used the denomination to highlight cultural figures, and Granados was an apt selection: the Catalan composer died in 1916 when the Sussex, the ship carrying him home after the New York premiere of his opera Goyescas, was torpedoed by a German U-boat in the English Channel. He had delayed his return specifically to attend a White House recital for Woodrow Wilson.