Catalog
Hanse ECU Lübeck
| Issuer | Germany, Federal Republic of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1993 |
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| Currency | ECU (1979-1999) |
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| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | Central field features a boldly struck high-relief depiction of a medieval Hanseatic cog under full sail, its billowing sails and rigging rendered in fine detail, navigating stylized ocean waves; a smaller vessel appears in the left background. The upper legend arching around the field reads HANSE 1293 · MAASTRICHT 1993, commemorating both the 700th anniversary of the Hanseatic League and the 1993 Maastricht Treaty. The lower exergue bears the inscription HANSE ECU in large capital letters, with a small ornamental anchor device beneath. |
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| Additional information |
Issued to mark the 750th anniversary of the Hanseatic League's founding charter, this piece belongs to a broader wave of ECU-denominated fantasy coins produced across Europe in the early 1990s as anticipation — and anxiety — around the Maastricht Treaty generated a cottage industry of unofficial commemorative issues. Germany's federal structure complicated official participation, so many of these German ECU pieces were struck by private or semi-official bodies operating in the margins of monetary authority.
Lübeck was the dominant city of the Hanse at its peak, controlling Baltic trade routes from the 13th through 17th centuries.