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70 ECUs - Elizabeth II Eurotunnel
| Issuer | Gibraltar Government |
|---|---|
| Year | 1993 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | KM#200 |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central design depicting two parallel tunnel bores connecting England and France beneath the English Channel, with a high-speed Eurostar train emerging from the tunnel mouth in the foreground. The legend EUROTUNNEL arcs across the upper field, flanked by ENGLAND to the left and FRANCE to the right. The denomination 70 ECUS and the issuer name GIBRALTAR appear in the lower field. A beaded inner border frames the composition. |
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| Edge | Reeded |
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| Additional information |
The ECU — European Currency Unit — was never legal tender in any country, making these Gibraltar issues a peculiar jurisdictional exercise: a British Overseas Territory issuing coins denominated in a proto-European currency that Britain itself was actively resisting adopting. The Channel Tunnel opened in May 1994 after roughly six years of construction, with the rail link having been proposed, abandoned, and revived so many times since the Napoleonic era that the French referred to the project's chronic failure as a running joke about English reluctance.
Gibraltar's choice to denominate collector gold in ECUs was purely commercial, targeting continental European buyers ahead of the tunnel's inaugural year.