ECU Great Britain - Royal Exchange

The Royal Exchange ECU series was part of a short-lived late-1990s trend among European mints to issue ECU-denominated pieces ahead of the euro's introduction — a currency Britain ultimately declined to adopt. These are neither legal tender ECUs in any technical sense nor commemoratives in the traditional meaning; they occupy an awkward commercial middle ground, struck primarily for the collector market during the window between the Maastricht Treaty and the 1999 euro launch.

Gold-plated copper-nickel on a 40mm flan is the house format for this entire output, produced under license arrangements rather than direct Royal Mint authority.