NEW NATIONAL SIDE OF EURO CIRCULATION COINS

(2005/C 244/03)

Euro circulation coins have legal tender status throughout the euro area. The Commission publishes all new euro coin designs (1) with a view to informing anyone required to handle coins in the course of their work and the public at large. In accordance with the Council conclusions of 8 December 2003 (2), Member States and countries that have concluded a Monetary Agreement with the Community providing for the issuance of euro circulation coins are allowed to issue certain quantities of commemorative euro circulation coins on condition that not more than one new coin design is issued per country per year and that only the EUR 2 denomination is used. These coins have the technical features of normal euro circulation coins, but bear a commemorative design on the obverse national side.

Issuing State: Republic of San Marino

Subject of commemoration: 2005: World Year of Physics

Factual description of the design: On the inner part of the coin is a free interpretation of the allegorical painting known as ‘la fisica antica’ or the study of the planets, depicting Galileo Galilei. The year of mintage appears in the illustration on a desk underneath a globe. To the left of the image is the mintmark ‘R’. The engraver's initials ‘LDS’ appear on the right hand side. The word ‘San Marino’ forms a quasi-semicircle along the upper edge of the inner part, while the words ‘ANNO MONDIALE DELLA FISICA’ run along the lower edge of the inner part. The twelve stars of the European Union are depicted on the outer ring. Between the stars appear parts of a stylised atom which covers the entire coin.

Issue volume: 130 000 coins

Approximate issue period: October 2005

Edge lettering: 2*, repeated six times, alternately upright and inverted

(1)  See OJ C 373 of 28.12.2001, pp. 1-30 for a reference to all national sides that were issued in 2002.

(2)  See conclusions of the General Affairs Council of 8 December 2003 on changes in the design of national sides of euro coins. See also Commission Recommendation of 29 September 2003 on a common practice for changes to the design of national obverse sides of euro circulation coins (OJ L 264 of 15.10.2003, p. 38-39).