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20 ECU - Baudouin I 60th Birthday
| Issuer | National Bank of Belgium |
|---|---|
| Year | 1990 |
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| Currency | ECU (1979-1999) |
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| Obverse description | Facing right portrait bust of King Baudouin I occupies the bimetallic gold centre, rendered in high relief with fine facial detail. The surrounding silver outer ring bears geometric decorative motifs, with a royal crown positioned at the top and the commemorative dates 1930-1990 inscribed at the bottom, marking the King's 60th birthday. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
The ECU — European Currency Unit — was never legal tender in the conventional sense; it existed as a basket currency used in European Community accounting and financial settlements from 1979 onward. Belgium was among its most enthusiastic institutional champions, and the National Bank issued a consistent run of commemorative ECU-denominated pieces throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, partly as advocacy for European monetary integration. Baudouin I, who had reigned since 1951, was a committed Europeanist whose 60th birthday in 1990 provided the occasion rather than the reason.
The bimetallic construction — gold centre, silver ring — was technically demanding for its era and relatively rare in European commemorative issues at the time.