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Greece Euro Coins

The poorest member of the EU, Greece saw EMU as an essential step towards achieving its strategic and economic ambitions. In spite of the euro's weakness when Greece entered the euro-zone on January 1 2001, opinion polls showed that some 70 per cent of Greeks were in favour of membership. There was little attachment to the drachma, as europe's second-oldest currency was linked in Greek minds with economic and political backwardness. Greece leveraged the euro to encourage foreign direct investment with a view to the country becoming a business and transport hub, linking south-east Europe with EU markets.

Greek euro coins feature a unique design for every one of the eight coins and they were all designed by Georgios Stamatopoulos.

• The minor coins depict Greek ships
• The middle coins portray famous Greeks
• The two large denominations show images of Greek history and mythology

All designs feature the 12 stars of the EU, the year of imprint and a tiny symbol of the Bank of Greece (the anthemion flower). Uniquely, the value of the coins is expressed on the national side in the Greek alphabet, as well as being on the common side in the Roman alphabet. The euro cent is known as the lepto (plural lepta) in Greek, in reference to the former currency, the drachma, which was divided into 100 lepta.

Greece did not enter the eurozone until 2001 and was not able to start minting coins as early as the other eleven member states, so a number of coins circulated in 2002 were not minted in Athens but in Finland (€1 and €2 - mint mark S = Suomi), France (1c, 2c, 5c, 10c and 50c - mint mark F) and Spain (20c - mint mark E = Espana). The coins minted in Athens for the Euro introduction in 2002 as well as all the subsequent Greek euro coins do not carry any mint mark. Please take a look at The Greek national Mint.

With the National side up, the Greek 2 Euro coin depicts the motto 'Hellenic Republic' on its side:

Type A
Type R

Mintmarks on Greek euro coins:

2 Euro	1 Euro	10, 20, 50 Cents	1, 2, 5 Cents

Greek circulation coins

	Greece 2 euros - Europa abducted by Zeus Date Mintage Shop 2007 20,000 View 2006 1,000,000 Buy 2005 1,000,000 Buy 2003 550,000 Buy 2002 - "S - Suomi" 70,000,000 Buy 2002 74,400,000 Buy
	Greece 1 euro - Owl Date Mintage Shop 2008 unknown Buy 2007 unknown Buy 2006 10,000,000 Buy 2005 10,000,000 Buy 2004 10,000,000 Buy 2003 11,700,000 Buy 2002 61,500,000 Buy 2002 - "S - Suomi" 50,000,000 Buy
	Greece 50 cents - Eleytherios Venizelos Date Mintage Shop 2008 unknown Buy 2007 unknown Buy 2006 1,000,000 Buy 2005 1,000,000 Buy 2004 500,000 Buy 2003 700,000 Buy 2002 90,000,000 Buy 2002 - "F - France" 70,000,000 Buy
	Greece 20 cents - Ioannis Kapodistrias Date Mintage Shop 2008 unknown View 2007 unknown View 2006 1,000,000 Buy 2005 1,000,000 Buy 2004 500,000 Buy 2003 800,000 Buy 2002 209,000,000 Buy 2002 - "E - Espana" 120,000,000 Buy
	Greece 10 cents - Rigas-Fereos Velestinlis Date Mintage Shop 2008 unknown View 2007 unknown View 2006 45,000,000 View 2005 25,000,000 View 2004 10,000,000 View 2003 600,000 View 2002 - "F - France" 100,000,000 Buy 2002 139,000,000 View
	Greece 5 cents - Modern tanker ship Date Mintage Shop 2008 unknown View 2007 unknown View 2006 50,000,000 View 2005 1,000,000 View 2004 250,000 Buy 2003 750,000 Buy 2002 211,000,000 View 2002 - "F - France" 90,000,000 View
	Greece 2 cents - Corvette Date Mintage Shop 2008 unknown View 2007 unknown View 2006 45,000,000 View 2005 15,000,000 View 2004 25,000,000 View 2003 9,500,000 View 2002 - "F - France" 18,000,000 Buy 2002 176,000,000 View
	Greece 1 cent - Athenian triere Date Mintage Shop 2008 unknown View 2007 unknown View 2006 45,000,000 View 2005 15,000,000 View 2004 45,000,000 View 2003 35,200,000 View 2002 101,000,000 View 2002 - "F - France" 15,000,000 Buy