3 ECU Ligue pour la protection des oiseaux Rochefort [17]

The ECU — European Currency Unit — was a basket currency used as an accounting unit within the European Monetary System from 1979, never intended for general circulation. In the early 1990s, French municipalities and organizations seized on it as a vehicle for commemorative and promotional issues, technically legal tender within agreed local schemes. The LPO, founded in 1912 and headquartered in Rochefort, was among the more unusual participants — a bird protection society issuing quasi-currency.

These regional ECU issues largely vanished from use the moment the euro project made the ECU obsolete at the end of 1998.