The European Currency Unit (ECU) was a basket of the currencies of the European Community member states, used as the unit of account of the European Community from 13 March 1979 until on 1 January 1999, when it was replaced by the euro.

Although the acronym ECU is formed from English words, écu is also the name of an ancient French coin, minted for the first time by Luis IX in the 12th century. That was one (perhaps the main) reason that a new name was devised for its successor currency, euro, which was felt not to favour any single language. In fact, Helmut Kohl, Germany’s Chancellor at the time said that “ECU” sounded to him like Ein Kuh, which in German means “a cow”, reason for which he wanted to change the name of the currency.

On 1 January 1999, the euro replaced the ECU, at the value €1 = 1 ECU. Unlike the ECU, the euro is a real currency, although not all member states participate. Two of the countries in the ECU basket of currencies, UK and Denmark, did not join the Eurozone, and a third, Greece, joined late. On the other hand, Finland and Austria joined the Eurozone from the beginning although their currencies were not part of the ECU basket (since they had joined the EU in 1995, two years after the ECU composition was "frozen").

Although at first the ECU was a unit of account and was used for a number of international financial transactions, it was expected to be converted into a circulating currency. In most European countries there were pattern coins issued exploring the design possibilities of the anticipated new coinage. Some of these issues were design exercises carried out by official mints, others were privately issued.

These coins were issued in Spain and became quite popular among collectors worldwide.

The Glorieuses Islands are a group of French islands and rocks totalling 5 square kilometres, in the northern Mozambique Channel, about 160 kilometres northwest of Madagascar. There are anchorages offshore, and Grande Glorieuse has a 1,300-metre long airstrip.

The archipelago consists of two islands, Grande Glorieuse and Île du Lys, as well as eleven rock islets.

This issue is part of a series of coins dedicated to French Overseas Departments and Territories.

Europa Island is a 28 km² low-lying tropical island in the Mozambique Channel, about a third of the way from southern Madagascar to southern Mozambique.

While the island has probably been sighted by navigators since at least the 16th century, it takes its name from the British ship Europa, which visited it in December 1774. Ruins and graves on Europa island attest to several attempts at settlement from the 1860s to the 1920s. For example, the French Rosiers family moved to the island in 1860, but subsequently abandoned it.

The island has been a possession of France since 1897, but is also claimed by Madagascar. The island, garrisoned by a detachment from Réunion, has a weather station and is visited by scientists. Though uninhabited, it is part of the "Scattered Islands" of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands administrative region.

This issue is part of a series of coins dedicated to French Overseas Departments and Territories.

Pomorskie is a voivodeship, or province, in north-central Poland. It comprises most of Pomerelia, as well as an area east of the Vistula River. The provincial capital is Gdańsk.

The voivodeship was established on January 1, 1999, out of the former voivodeships of Gdańsk, Elbląg and Słupsk, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998. It is bordered by West Pomeranian Voivodeship to the west, Greater Poland and Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeships to the south, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship to the east, and the Baltic Sea to the north. It also shares a short land border with Russia, on the Vistula Spit.

Gdańsk, the regional capital, forms part of the Tricity of Sopot, Gdańsk and Gdynia. The voivodeship also includes the narrow Hel Peninsula and the Polish half of the Vistula Spit. Other tourist destinations include Sopot, Jurata, Łeba, Władysławowo, Puck, Krynica Morska, Ustka, Jastarnia, Kuźnica, Bytów and many fishing ports and lighthouses.

Pranke Island (73°14′S 124°55′W) is a small ice-covered island lying close to Siple Island in the west extremity of Russell Bay, off the coast of Marie Byrd Land, in the Antarctica. Mapped by United States Geological Survey (USGS) from ground surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1959-65. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) for James B. Pranke, aurora researcher at Byrd Station in 1965. This island is claimed by Westarctica. This coin represents an Emperor Penguin, an species in the island.

Clipperton Island is an uninhabited nine-square-kilometer coral atoll in the eastern Pacific Ocean, southwest of Mexico and west of Central America. It is an overseas possession of France under direct authority of the Minister of Overseas France.

Clipperton Island is low-lying and largely barren, save for scattered grasses and a few clumps of coconut palms. A small volcanic outcrop rising to 29 meters on its southeast side is referred to as "Clipperton Rock".

Clipperton's name comes from John Clipperton, an English pirate and privateer who fought the Spanish during the early 18th century, and who is said to have passed by the island. Some sources say he used it as a base for his raids on shipping, yet there is no documentary evidence for this assertion. The name Île de la Passion (English: Passion Island) was officially given to Clipperton in 1711 by French discoverers Martin de Chassiron and Michel Du Bocage, commanding the French ships La Princesse and La Découverte. They drew up the first map of the island and annexed it to France.

The atoll has been occupied at various times by guano miners, would-be settlers or military personnel, mostly from Mexico, which formerly claimed it until international arbitration awarded it to France in 1931. In the late 1930s, Clipperton Island was visited twice by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who wanted it to become an American possession for use as an airbase for Pacific Ocean operations. In 1944, he ordered the US Navy to occupy the island (until 1945) in one of the most secret U.S. operations of World War II.

The island was abandoned at the end of World War II. Since then it has only been visited by sport fishermen, film crews, shipwreck survivors, regularly scheduled patrols of the French Navy, and by Mexican tuna and shark fishermen.

There are 3 different coins from Clipperton Island:

- 100 francs Brass

- 200 francs Bimetallic Brass/Nickel

- 500 francs Bimetallic Brass/Nickel

Adélie Land is the portion of the Antarctic coast between Pourquoi Pas Point at 66°12'S, 136°11'E and Point Alden at 66°48'S, 142°02'E, with a shore length of 350 km and with its hinterland extending as a sector about 2,600 km toward the South Pole. It is one of five districts of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. The land area, mostly ice covered, is estimated at 432,000 km².

"An organization designed in the form of an independent and sovereign state” based in Madison, Wisconsin (USA). “As defined by its Constitution, Antoninia is an independent, sovereign, self ruling entity.” Founded by Quintus Poppaeus Sabinus (Mr. John Carlson), its Declaration of Sovereignty was announced on November 26, 2752 AUC (1999 CE).

Buck Island is an island of the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. It is privately held. A former owner had begun to build a bridge between Buck Island and the mainland of Tortola, but construction ceased when it was discovered that under British Virgin Islands law that would create a right in favour of the general public to cross the bridge and use the island's beaches. The island also has an obsolete airstrip on it, which is now in ruins. The coins from Buck Islands are very scarce and hard to find.

The present day Ga is predominantly ewaala who are believe to have migrated from Dorimon near Wa to the western corridor along the banks of the black Volta. Ga is governed by a unified leader, the Yirininkpong, who is equally accepted by the entire people of Ga. The Yirininkpong thus is the most elderly (not necessarily in age) in lineage among the royal families of Ga.

Livestock keeping is their major economic activity. The land is also endowed with shea trees and fertile soil for cropping. Shea butter production is common among their women. They are commercially inclined with the Ghana Cedi as a medium of exchange. Cowries are also accepted for customary and sometimes business transactions.

The people of Ga mainly practise Islam as their religion. As a result of their religious background, they adopted Idil Fitr and Idil Adhar as their festivals.

Ga, like any other human settlement is not without development challenges. Lack of basic social amenities undoubtedly retards its development agenda. The people until recently prefer their male children following cattle to having formal education. At best they are sent to ‘Makaranta’ (Arabic school) to learn the Qur’an in Arabic. They perceive formal education as threat to their religious inclinations. Parents are thus reluctant to financing their wards education. More so, women especially those who lost their spouses are either coerced to remarry close relations of the deceased spouses or left alone to bear the burden of fending for their children’s (orphans) health, education and other needs.

The cosmopolitan Ga community with close to 5,000 residents has very limited sanitary facilities. There is only one place of convenience for the community and one eight seater KVIP (toilet) for the Junior high school. The primary school and others who the existing facilities are not accessible to, resort to the ‘free range’ system of defecating.