ECU European Community

The ECU was never legal tender in France — it existed as a unit of account defined by a basket of European Community member currencies, pegged by treaty rather than minted for commerce. France issued silver ECU pieces through the Monnaie de Paris as collector items, a practice that sidestepped the unit's purely notional status while cashing in on pre-euro enthusiasm. By 1996, the Maastricht Treaty had already set the timetable for the single currency, making these late ECU issues something of a farewell series — the denomination they reference was formally replaced by the euro at a fixed 1:1 rate on January 1, 1999.