Can't make heads or tails of it

July 24, 2009 2:19 AM

I got this coin (tails, heads) in a restaurant in Paris and only later realized it was not a 2-euro coin. Does anyone know where it is from? Just curious.

I searched for images of coins but only found out about other coins (usually with a 1 whatever-currency denomination) that were being used as a 2 euro coin. Also no luck trying to find it by the description (lion, 2, arabic?, 1426).

posted by natalinha to grab bag (9 comments total)

Algeria, a former French colony.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:26 AM on July 24

Thank you! That is then a 20 dinar coin, not a 2 something coin. :)
posted by natalinha at 2:34 AM on July 24

I don't know about the 20 dinar coin but just FYI: this kind of thing is often done as a scam, often with 500 lira coins.
posted by yaymukund at 2:42 AM on July 24

1426 is years after the Hegira, Muhammad's migration to Medina. It's 2005-2006.
posted by mdonley at 4:16 AM on July 24

In the States, all sorts of coins that are close to the size of quarters get accidentally rolled by banks' automatic machines and distributed. I consider them bonuses! (I have a collection of them, actually.)
posted by restless_nomad at 6:25 AM on July 24

It's 2005-2006.

It says 2005 on the coin.
posted by effbot at 6:27 AM on July 24

20 algerian dinars (DZD) are worth 0.20€, so you got ripped off by 90%.
posted by dhartung at 10:22 AM on July 24

coins that are close to the size of, Part 2

Once it was discovered that a British shilling was identical in size to a Deutschmark coin, crafty tourists received big discounts at train-station coin lockers, back in the day.
posted by Rash at 11:56 AM on July 24

Thank you all for the extra info! I got the coin mixed with other 2 euro coins, as part of a 8 euro change. So I got 6.20 euros instead, so, technically, I got ripped off by only ~20%.

Too bad the machines nowadays now seem *not* accept even the right coins --- when I go to my usual laundromat, I have to search for the French euro coins, as the machines more often than not reject Spanish, German, etc, euro coins.

I'm new here, but this is kind of turning into meta-talk now, right? :)
posted by natalinha at 1:31 AM on July 25