Why issue a zero euro note?
These exceptional banknotes, numbered from 000001 to 003000, are intended for collectors and are not intended to enter into circulation like ordinary notes. Their completely zero market value prevents them from being confused with conventional currency. Far from any financial significance, they are issued as part of the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944.
This event is a major turning point in the Second World War, which marked history and allowed Europe to lay the foundations for its (re)construction. Commemorating it today on the European currency, the symbol of the Union, is a way of paying tribute to this fight for freedom.
What will the ticket look like?
The banknote put into circulation in July will include all the characteristics of a real banknote: specific ink, watermarks, security threads, but also official holograms and a unique serial number.
Intended to commemorate the “80th anniversary of the Liberation of France”, it will include several historical references: June 18, 1940 (General De Gaulle’s appeal), June 6, 1944 (the Landing) and May 8, 1945 (the signing of the armistice).
It will be illustrated with photographs of significant events: the Landings, the Resistance, the Liberation of Paris and the poster of the June 18 appeal. As well as a mention: “Honor to the men and women of all nations who united to liberate our country. »
How to get one?
If you wanted to own one of these notes, you had to get in early: a sales session took place on the Internet this winter, and a physical sale was organized on February 11th during the 21st Salon des Collectionneurs d’Isle, near Limoges, in Haute-Vienne. In both cases, buyers had to pay three euros to get this collector’s note, and could only order two copies maximum per person.
Is this a new initiative?
Not at all. Since 2015, the issue of collector’s notes has multiplied, whether to commemorate special events or to pay tribute to a heritage site (and often, a tourist site). The Auvergne company Euro Banknote Memory, at the origin of the project, has also specialized in the issue of this type of currency: it now offers for sale many special notes as well as a service intended for any tourist company that would like to issue a personalized note, but also a whole series of objects (binders, folders, wallets) to classify and organize its collection.
In addition to paper tickets, the company is also behind certain terminals that you have surely already come across on tourist sites and which offer to transform a coin into a “souvenir medal”.
