From 1529 to 1535 Erasmus of Rotterdam lived in Freiburg, in today’s Baden-Württemberg, the same state as the Stuttgart mint whose letter «F» appears on this 2022 commemorative 2 euro for the 35th anniversary of the Erasmus programme.

Stuttgart received the largest share of the German issue, 4.08 million coins; in total Germany planned up to 17 million pieces for circulation plus about 500,000 in proof quality for collectors. The coin entered circulation on 1 July 2022.

The national side shows Erasmus’s portrait and a beacon sending out a beam of links that turns into stars, an image of intellectual exchange among Europe’s students. The inscriptions read «ERASMUS PROGRAMME», «1987-2022» and «35», with the mint mark «F».

EU citizens chose the design in an online vote among six proposals; its author is the French medallist Joaquin Jimenez. Erasmus himself, who studied in Paris, took his doctorate in Turin and lived for long periods in England, Leuven and Basel, is a natural emblem for a programme that has sent millions of students to study abroad.

UNC condition means the coin never circulated: there is no wear, the original mint lustre remains, and only minor bag marks are acceptable.

Every coin in the VPcoins catalogue tells a small story about the country that issued it.