Monaco euro coins, from the Grace Kelly €2 to the rarest of all

Monaco’s coins are the smallest souvenir you can bring home from the country and, chosen well, the most valuable. Monaco mints its own euros, in runs so short that some €2 commemoratives do not reach 20,000 pieces. Here I explain why, which ones collectors chase and where you can buy them officially, which is the part nobody tells you. If what worries you is paying for things during the trip, that is covered in money in Monaco.

Why does Monaco have its own euros?

Although it is outside the European Union, Monaco signed a monetary agreement with it on 29 November 2011, in force from the first day of December, which lets it adopt the euro as its own currency and give it legal tender status. That agreement replaced one from 2001, and euro coins reached the Principality in 2002.

What makes it special is the quota. The agreement sets an annual issuing ceiling, with a fixed part and a variable part tied to what France issues and to Monaco’s population. It is a small quota, and everything else follows from that. Within that ceiling Monaco may also issue collector coins, which are not legal tender in the EU. Why an independent country uses another club’s currency I explain in is Monaco a country?.

The tradition goes back a long way. Honoré II established the right to mint coins, and the first Monegasque pieces date from 1640. After the alliance with France in 1641, Monaco’s coins had to share the fineness and size of French ones so they could circulate there. In a way, the euro is simply the latest version of that pact.

Three faces for everyday euros

The national side of Monegasque euros has had three series, and all three remain in circulation. The first, from 2002, shows Rainier III on the €2 coin and Rainier with his son Albert on the €1. The second, from 2006, carries Albert II, and the third, from 2025, a front-facing portrait of the Prince. The larger cent coins carry the prince’s seal or monogram, and the small ones the Grimaldi coat of arms, the one with two sword-wielding friars that I explain with the flag of Monaco.

A detail to look for if you have one in your hand. The edge of the €2 coin carries a “2” and two stars repeated six times, alternating in position.

The Grace Kelly coin and the other commemoratives

This is where collectors get interested. Each euro country can issue two commemorative €2 coins a year, three if one is a joint issue, and Monaco puts them out in very short runs. Since 2015 almost all have landed between 10,000 and 25,000 pieces. The table on this page has the full list published by the European Central Bank.

The best known is the 2007 coin for the 25th anniversary of Princess Grace’s death. Her likeness is on it, with R. B. Baron’s signature under her hair, and 20,000 were issued in July 2007. It is the one most people hunt for, and I understand why, but it is not the scarcest. That title belongs to the 2015 coin for 800 years of the fortress on the Rock, at 10,000. At the other extreme is the 2013 coin for twenty years at the UN, at 1.2 million. I follow Grace’s presence around the city on my Grace Kelly trail.

The newest ones have their own charm. In 2025 Monaco issued two, one for the County of Carladès, Princess Gabriella’s title, and one for the Marquisate of Les Baux, the title of Hereditary Prince Jacques, with 15,000 of each. If you are curious about the family on them, it is covered in the Grimaldi family.

Why are they so scarce, and so expensive?

The Monegasque museum explains it plainly. When the euro arrived there was strong demand, especially from Germany and Italy, and even speculation, and Monaco’s issuing allowance fell short of so much novelty. Since then the Principality has followed what it calls a prudent policy, with circulation coins and collectors’ products in proof and uncirculated quality, as well as silver and gold pieces.

What I cannot give you is prices. Neither the museum nor the government publishes what a €2 commemorative costs, and market prices change with the condition of the coin and the seller. I think that is worth knowing before you pay, because the mintage is an official fact and the price is not.

Where to buy them officially

The official seller is the Musée des Timbres et des Monnaies, at 11 Terrasses de Fontvieille, which opened in 1996 at Rainier III’s wish. Its own website says it sells Monaco’s coins and stamps over the counter, along with books, enamels and scarves. It opens from 9:30 to 17:00 every day, an hour longer in July and August, and buses 3, 4 and 6 get you there. Fontvieille has its own guide if you want to see the rest of the area.

The Office des Émissions de Timbres-Poste, a government body, also has counters in the post offices of Monaco-Ville, on the Place de la Mairie, and La Scala, on the avenue Henry Dunant, on weekdays from 9:00 to 17:00. Addresses and the postcode are in Monaco’s post office and postcode. Then there is the museum’s online shop, which only ships coins to EU countries. For a British collector that settles it. The UK is outside the EU, so the official way to buy is in person, in Monaco.

My warning is this. On 25 September 2026 the online shop’s cased-sets section was empty, and I have not found out whether the €2 coins are sold singly. I would email the museum before making a special trip for one particular coin.

An hour’s visit to understand the money

Even if you buy nothing, the museum is worth the hour it takes. Entry is €3, half that for 12 to 18-year-olds, students and pensioners, and covers two rooms. The large one traces coins from 1641 and stamps from 1885, with plaster models and minting punches and an intaglio press that printed stamps for over sixty years. The small one is a strongroom holding the rarest stamps. The piece I like best is the 1796 screw press known as the lions’ heads press, which Honoré V bought in 1837 to strike coins again and Florestan I sold on in 1842. It is on loan from the Monnaie de Paris. The country’s other museums are ranked in Monaco’s museums.