5 Euros - Henri I European Bee

Issued under Luxembourg's broader "Europa" thematic series, this piece was struck by the Monnaie de Paris on behalf of the Grand Duchy — a long-standing arrangement reflecting Luxembourg's lack of its own mint infrastructure. The Nordic Gold center alloy, a copper-aluminum-zinc-tin composition developed in the early 1990s and first used in Swedish circulation coinage, was adopted here for its visual contrast against the silver ring rather than any circulatory requirement.

The European honey bee had been experiencing catastrophic colony collapse disorder across EU member states in the years leading up to this issue, lending the subject unusual currency beyond pure numismatic interest.