€2 Olympics coin given to Paris children being sold online for €600
The Monnaie de Paris Mint said it was ‘astonished’ at the resale prices
The coins are among those minted by the Monnaie de Paris, and intended as commemorative objects, but are only worth €2 when in circulation
Monnaie de Paris
The €2 coins given to schoolchildren to celebrate the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games are already being resold online for prices of up to €600, it has emerged.
The coins were given to pupils in schools in Paris, in the classes from CP to CM2 (primary school from age 5 to 11). They were freshly minted by the Monnaie de Paris, and intended to be “collector’s items” and “commemorative” objects.
But despite their low face value, the pieces have been popping up on online resale sites for prices reaching into the hundreds of euros. The highest price seen so far is €600, said FranceInfo.
One of the sellers on the platform Le Bon Coin, who is selling the piece for €250, simply describes the coin on his listing as “of no use, I'm not a collector”. He adds that the high price is the going rate among his “entourage”.
Other examples of the coins are being sold at lower prices too; with most around €20-35.
‘Relatively rare’
The coins have only been distributed to schools so far, the Mint said in a statement.
More of the coins will be distributed in June - with “different glosses and polishes" - and by then, there will be 24 million of them in circulation. This will make these coins less in demand (meaning the high resale prices are likely to drop) although they will still be considered “relatively rare”, said the Mint.
Other coins of higher quality, aimed at collectors specifically, will also be minted later this year. These will likely “be resold at much higher prices than the face value”, the Monnaie de Paris said.
The mint admitted that it was “astonished” at the resale prices of the school coins.
‘Commemorative and educational’ use only
The Ministry of Education has defended the distribution of the coins at schools, saying that it had been done only “for commemorative and educational purposes” It also said that no matter the prices shown on the resale websites, the coin’s “value [when in use] is only two euros”.
In the European Union, €2 coins are the only pieces used for commemorative purposes. They can be minted by any EU Member State and are subject to the same regulations as traditional coins.
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