Money makes the world go round, well so Liza Minelli sang, I find that a dozen bottles of Dorada Especial makes most things go round. Anyway, giving the World an extra spin is a new 12 euro coin made by the Real Casa de la Moneda, the Spanish mint.

The new coin weighs in at 18 grams, is 33 mm in diameter and is to commemorate 2008 – the International Year of Planet Earth. Although it is technically legal tender, it’s not issued for general circulation like other coins, and you would probably have a hard time getting shops to accept it. I thought this was a one off but delving deeper, I found that there is a history of these 12 Euro coins to mark special occasions, the last 2 years has seen specials to commemorate the Treaty of Rome and the 5th centennary of Christopher Columbus.

The coins are in the tradition of the British crown, they had a face value of 25 pence or 5 shillings in pre decimal terms. The Queens silver jubilee crown of 1977 is probably loitering around in the bottom of many peoples change jars, I still have my 1965 Churchill crown tucked away and gathering dust somewhere at my parents. They were often given as little birthday presents with the idea that they would grow in value as collectors items, though there were so many of them, they wont make you rich.

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