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ECU - Strasbourg Iohan Gutenberg
| Issuer | UNA (Universal Numismatic Association) / Isler Edition |
|---|---|
| Year | 1994 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
| Obverse lettering | STRASBOURG ECU 1994 UNA Edit. ISLER CAPITALE DE L'EUROPE |
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| Additional information |
The ECU was never legal tender in any conventional sense — it existed as a unit of account within the European Monetary System from 1979, used for interbank settlements and budgetary calculations but never physically circulated. Private and semi-official ECU medal-coins like this Isler Edition piece occupied a grey zone, struck to the approximate weight and module of official ECU issues and sold to collectors anticipating European monetary union. That union, when it came, bypassed the ECU entirely — the euro was calculated at a one-to-one replacement rate, but the ECU itself was retired rather than adopted.
Gutenberg's connection to Strasbourg is specific: it was there, in the 1430s and 1440s, that he developed and refined his movable-type press before returning to Mainz.