| Description : Today's Monaco was an ancient trading centre of the Phoenicians
and later the Greeks, who had built a temple of Heracles here on the north coast of the western Mediterranean, which was
soon given the nickname "Monoikos" (single house). When the place became a Roman port, it was given the name "Herculis
Monoeci Portus", from which Monaco was shortened. In 1215, the Grimaldi family, who were part of the patriciate of
the Republic of Genoa, established themselves here. The coin motif, designed by the Atelier de Gravues of the Monnaie
de Paris, shows a tower on a rock by the sea. At the bottom, the occasion of issue is mentioned as "1215 ♦ FONDATION
DE LA FORTERESSE ♦ 2015" (1215 ♦ FOUNDATION DE LA FORTERESSE ♦ 2015) and at
the top "MONACO" as the issuing country, flanked on the left by a cornucopia as a symbol of the French mint Monnaie de
Paris in Plessac and on the right by a pentagon as the mint master's mark Yves Sampos. ‐ This coin was
minted in an exceptionally small edition of 10,000 copies using the proof production process. |
