by Sebastian Wieschowski

When it comes to the most beautiful holiday destinations in Europe, alongside Spain, Italy, or Greece, another place of longing must not be overlooked: Croatia, with its Gold Coast, is a popular destination and also known as the "Land of a Thousand Islands." With its accession to the EU in 2013, Croatia is one of the youngest newcomers to the European family - and joining the European currency area provided additional momentum for coin collecting in Croatia and throughout Europe.

For Croatia, bidding farewell to its own currency is a significant event - one that was largely positively received by many locals. Prime Minister Andrej Plenković praised during the initial minting of Croatian euro coins in Zagreb: "The Croatian Mint was founded in 1993 as the Croatian Currency Institute and was one of the key pillars in building national identity. Today, almost 30 years after its establishment, the Croatian Mint will mint Croatian euro coins and thus - in addition to promoting Croatian symbols throughout Europe - participate in the historic process through which Croatia is being admitted to the club of the most developed member states of the European Union, which benefits our citizens and our economy."

With the introduction of the euro in Croatia, the end of a rather short-lived national currency is sealed. The "kuna" has been in circulation since 1994. The term "kuna" is not only used for the Croatian currency but also in the animal world for the marten. This ambiguity dates back to the use of marten pelts as currency in the Middle Ages. One kuna equals 100 lipa (translated as "lime tree"). Among German collectors, Croatia was particularly known because Croatian banknotes strongly resemble the DM (German Mark) banknotes of the fourth and final series before the introduction of the euro.

After having little significance in numismatics as part of the second Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1991, Croatia made a powerful comeback after gaining independence, particularly distinguishing itself with nature motifs on circulation coins - the nightingale, depicted on the kuna coin between 1993 and 2021, is likely to be found in almost every world coin collection. In addition, Croatia delighted the collector world with bimetallic coins with 12 edges as well as magnificent commemorative coins made of silver and gold - and bid farewell to the kuna with a world record in the form of the smallest gold coin in the world: the mini coin is barely 2 millimeters in size. Even in the currency period before the introduction of the euro, a distinctive design feature became the hallmark of coins from Croatia: the checkered design, also found in the country's coat of arms since 1940.

With an area of around 56,000 square kilometers and just under 4 million inhabitants, Croatia is among the medium-sized euro states - the country has more inhabitants than Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia as well as Slovenia, but fewer inhabitants than Ireland, Slovakia, and Finland. The minting numbers for Croatian two-euro coins are at the level of euro rarities from Luxembourg and Finland.

The introduction of the euro in Croatia did not go entirely without scandal: Shortly after the release of the first designs for the one-euro coins, wild speculations arose about the coin motif, and not a few experts from the coin and animal world recognized in the design an image by a Scottish nature photographer, who promptly recognized his intellectual property. When screenshots appeared allegedly showing the coin designer asking how a metallic effect could be applied to an image, the jury pulled the emergency brake and excluded the design from the competition. However, the dust has settled since then - and the euro coins from Croatia are considered by many collectors to be among the most beautiful circulation coins to be found in change. Additionally, Croatia intends to issue two circulation commemorative coins per year in the future - so collectors won't get bored with this new euro member anytime soon.

Sebastian Wieschowski has been collecting coins since childhood and, after working as a journalist with a focus on finance and economy, has switched his focus on coins and precious since 2012. He is the author of several self-published books on Bullion Coins, Panda Coins, Fake Coins and Coin Grading and works for numismatic magazines. He is also a recurring expert on the German television program Münzengalerie (Coin Gallery), the longest running numismatic television show in the world. You can find out more about his work at coinosseur.com