2 Euro Greek Coin KM# 188

When the Euro was adopted as a financial standard by some European countries in 2002, many of them started minting their own 2 Euro coins. They decided to do something unique: each country issuing a coin would design their own obverse (front) with whatever they wished to put on it, but the reverse (back) of the coin would always look the same, from country-to-country.

I found a good opportunity to add the Greek version of the 2 Euro coin to my collection recently. As was the case with many of the other items in my collection, I chose it because of the feminine imagery.

Actually, though, I think it would be cool to have a coin from each of the participating countries, which are: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Portugal, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and the Vatican.


The obverse (front) of the Greek version of the 2 Euro coin features Europa (for whom the continent of Europe was named) being abducted by the god Zeus, who has temporarily taken the form of a bull. Stars appear around the outside of the coin, with the date underneath (mine is 2002, the first year these were minted). Under the image of Europa and Zeus is the denomination 2 ΕΥΡΩ (2 Euro) in the Greek alphabet. Above the bull's head and to the right of Europa is the mark of the mint, to Europa's left is her name ΕΥΡΩΠΗ in the Greek alphabet, and the mark of the coin's designer, Georgios Stamatopoulos (ΓΣ = GS).


The reverse (back) of the coin is the same for all 2 Euro coins, regardless of which country had them minted. The denomination "2 EURO" appears very large along with a map of Europe. Twelve stars appear around the right side, representing the European Union (EU).

Perhaps the most striking feature of this coin is its color, due to its being composed of two different alloys. My photos do not do justice to the color because mine was apparently handled a lot before it found its way to me, so here is an image taken from EuropeanCentralBank.com which shows the lovely two-tone aspect of the coin after it was freshly minted.

The inner circle of the coin is made of a nickel–brass alloy, while the outer part of the coin is composed of a copper–nickel alloy. There is no silver or gold in this coin, but it does look at first like a silver–gold thing is going on, which adds to the beauty of it.


Above is a closeup of the feminine figure of Europa, riding on the back of Zeus in his guise as a bull. The scene is taken from a mosaic artwork in Sparta that was created in the third century, C.E. The original story of Europa's abduction by Zeus actually dates back to several centruies B.C.E., however.


Around the edge of the coin is: "EΛΛHNIKH ΔHMOKPATIA ☆" (Hellenic Republic). This edge lettering adds to the beauty of the coin as well as to make counterfeiting more difficult.