70 ECUs - Elizabeth II Ariane Space Programme

The ECU — European Currency Unit — was never legal tender in the conventional sense, existing purely as a basket currency and accounting unit underpinning the European Monetary System from 1979. Gibraltar's decision to issue ECU-denominated collector coins in the early 1990s was opportunistic but technically legitimate; several non-EU territories did the same as the continent edged toward Maastricht. This particular piece commemorates Ariane, the European Space Agency's launch vehicle programme headquartered at Kourou, French Guiana, which by 1993 had captured roughly half the global commercial satellite launch market — a commercially staggering achievement for a multinational cooperative.