ECU - Beatrix Kuifje/TinTin

Issued in the final year before the euro rendered the ECU obsolete, this piece belongs to a wave of European fantasy ECUs struck in the 1990s by national mints seeking to capitalize on collector enthusiasm for pan-European coinage. The Netherlands had no official obligation to produce ECU-denominated pieces for circulation — these were medal-coins, struck for the numismatic market. The pairing with Hergé's Tintin was a licensing arrangement, one of several cultural-figure issues the Dutch mint pursued during this period to move product to a theme-collecting audience rather than a traditional coin audience.