The Joke That Corrupted Europe's Currency

One of the world's foremost currencies has a stickman on the back - but why?

"The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the 27 member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens as of 2019. The euro is divided into 100 cents.
The currency is also used officially by the institutions of the European Union, by four European microstates that are not EU members, the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, as well as unilaterally by Montenegro and Kosovo. Outside Europe, a number of special territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency. Additionally, over 200 million people worldwide use currencies pegged to the euro.
As of 2013, the euro is the second-largest reserve currency as well as the second-most traded currency in the world after the United States dollar. As of December 2019, with more than €1.3 trillion in circulation, the euro has one of the highest combined values of banknotes and coins in circulation in the world.
The name euro was officially adopted on 16 December 1995 in Madrid. The euro was introduced to world financial markets as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999, replacing the former European Currency Unit (ECU) at a ratio of 1:1 (US$1.1743). Physical euro coins and banknotes entered into circulation on 1 January 2002, making it the day-to-day operating currency of its original members, and by March 2002 it had completely replaced the former currencies.
Between December 1999 and December 2002, the euro traded below the US dollar, but has since traded at or above the US dollar, peaking at US$1.60 on 18 July 2008 and since then returning near to its original issue rate. On 13 July 2022, the two currencies hit parity for the first time in nearly two decades"

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[acefromeuropa]

I love how coins can be super meaningful and important and sometime it's just "Screw you, stickman time."

[Sky_Guy]

This has to be the most significant influence on European culture by the Greeks. I can't think of anything more important.

[TheTSense]

As someone who lived with the Euro most of his life, I didn't realize so many coins had the problem of NOT SAYING WHAT THEY ARE

[TheFeldhamster]

As an Austrian I've had a couple of those come across my wallet and always thought they commemorated some cave art somewhere in Europe. Kept the first one for my small collection, but never thought too much about it. Never had the feeling they were rare, either, since the come along every once in a while. Never knew this funny backstory of the vote and what's clearly a joke entry. That's pretty cool.

[MoneyChanger]

As an American coin nerd, I envy this. What better way to respect your democratic ideals than to say, “well, Stickman won, now we’re stuck with it?” I guarantee if the US Mint did something similar and Dollary McDollarface won, they’d disqualify it and declare something traditional the winner.

[mattyjpati]

In Australia we're still debating what to put on our $5 note... THERE'S STILL TIME FOR THE STICKMAN!!!! 🤣

[scoopian]

Fun Fact: You can actually feel wich coin you got because every Euro Coin has diferent ridges on the side so blind and Visualy impared people can pay easier

[KjV]

That stick man is proof the EU is the home of democracy. In the uk, the public were given a similar vote on naming a new lifeboat, but the authorities went against the People and refused to call the boat Boaty McBoatface. True story btw, lol.

[hanswurst]

Being really into 2€ collecting when I was around 12, I actually own one of the stickmen from Luxemburg. If I recall correctly, those were not put out into circulation back in the day because of the grate design, as it could be destroyed rather easily. Those grates are indeed a hologram that shows the Grand Duke of Luxemburg. I recall reading about a law, where Luxemburg‘s head of state had to be depicted on each Euro-coin, which is why they went with this technique

[tf]

'Its just a Lions Arse' that one had me in stiches, never noticed it before.

[nicoheroesdx]

What I love about this, is the fact is that they accepted the winner and actually made coins with the design on it!

[Ploxtifs_OldAndDeadAccountXD]

“Central Bank of Greece” and “financial environment” are two things that should NEVER be near each other in a sentence/paragraph

[stefmyt]

As a Greek person, I must say I am so proud to be from the same country as this coin design's inventor.

[b.elzebub]

Can we just take a moment to appreciate that the people in charge of this competition just went 'THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN!!' and went ahead producing the design like a boss, instead of pussing out and picking another design.

Looking at you, 'Boaty Mcboatface' committee.

[derwebie]

i owned this coin already a few times and always wondered how the stickman got on the back. thanks for the video

[JulianGeorgiou-cq]

Not a joke and no corruption happened.

[johnm]

"What the hell is a dime?!?"

as an American I laughed at this more than I care to admit

[daviddavidson]

Speaking of currency recognition based on how a coin looks if you don't look too long at it, I got a bunch of Egyptian coins that looked almost exactly the same as old UK £2 coins about 10 years ago.
Many a cheap bus fare was gotten.
Also Swaziland had coins nearly identical in size and weight to the old £1 coins. Lots of cheap stuff from the school vending machine with those things.

[aeriszona]

The first time i got one of these I thought I was scammed lmao. I have a few of these and I absolutely love the design and story behind it. I'm glad you covered it!

[moussechan]

You can fool a vending machine with a 10 Thai Baht coin, i did it a decade ago in France.
The guilt is heavier than the money save.