You will not find a Berlin 1 euro cent of 2003 in your change: that year no German mint struck it for circulation, and the coin exists only in sets and as proof. The same is true of the 5 cent coin. This 8-coin euro set of 2003 with mint mark A is one way to own those denominations.

The mintage of Stempelglanz (brilliant uncirculated) sets in 2003 was 180,000 per mint. It was the second year of euro cash, introduced on 1 January 2002 in place of the German mark, and already some denominations were no longer issued for circulation.

The designs stayed the same. The 1, 2 and 5 cent coins show Professor Rolf Lederbogen’s oak twig, recalling the pfennig; the 10, 20 and 50 cent coins show Reinhard Heinsdorff’s Brandenburg Gate, symbol of Germany’s division and reunification; the €1 and €2 carry the eagle by Heinz Hoyer and Sneschana Russewa-Hoyer. The common side of the higher values shows the map of the European Union before its 2004 enlargement.

Unlike the cents, the €1 coin with the letter A did go into circulation in 2003: Berlin and Hamburg were the only mints to strike it for circulation. For a run of the A mint this set covers two denominations that cannot be found otherwise.

UNC condition means the coins never circulated: no wear, mint lustre intact, with only minor storage marks allowed.

Collecting a date run? Look for the neighbouring years of this type in the VPcoins catalogue.