France 2016 UEFA 10 Euro Silver Uncirculated Coin

Description:

The Monnaie de Paris honored the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Euro2016 soccer championship event by issuing silver commemorative coins. The quadrennial event, held in France from June 10 through July 10, 2016, is a major event similar to the National Football League’s (NFL) Super Bowl championship game in the United States. The UEFA oversees association football throughout continental Europe and parts of Asia, which fields several of the organization’s 55 association members. The UEFA was established on June 15, 1954 in Basel, Switzerland with 25 members. The number of members soared as the 1990s marched onward.

The UEFA assumes several roles, two of which are to review competitions among its members and to improve the quality and presence of national football in Eurasia. Meanwhile, the associations also aim to enhance sporting opportunities for the football teams, coaches, players, and spectators. The UEFA Nations League consists of four individual leagues, and each league contains four groups consisting of three to four teams. Some UEFA events are competitive, while others are non-competitive exhibitions. Each league is ordered by the strength and ranking of its member teams, and those teams compete with each other, advancing through playoff matches until a winner is eventually declared in a championship match format.

Obverse:

The obverse of the 2016 silver 10 Euro uncirculated UEFA coin depicts the lower two-thirds of a football player running across a field, his legs poised for kicking a ball. The UEFA logo is seen in the upper right-hand corner of the obverse, and below that are the words Euro2016 France, inscribed in two horizontal lines. The background of the coin includes a multi-elemental pattern with hexagonal and other geometric shapes indicative of crowds, jubilation, and the spirit of the event.

Along the bottom sixth of the obverse is a grassy football field. On the field is the coin’s date, 2016, surrounded by a “horn of plenty”, or cornucopia (the Monnaie de Paris mintmark), on the left and the mark of current Monnaie de Paris mint master Yves Sampo–a pentagon containing the letters AG, MP and YS–on the right.

The UEFA trademark is seen on the lower right of the coin near its rim.

Reverse:

Two hexagonal lines are overlaid upon each other, their corners touching the inside rim of the reverse. The overall shape of the double hexagon feature appears to have 24 sides, each side representing one of the two dozen nations competing toward the championship game. Within the larger hexagonal element is a slightly smaller hexagonal shape within which the denomination, 10 EURO, is expressed in one horizontal line of italicized text.

The words RÉPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE arc from the left of the word EURO around the top and bottom of the denomination inscription. Within the arc of wording representing the coin’s country of origin, branches of oak and laurel envelope the 10 EURO inscription and symbolically indicate the Euro symbol.

Coin Specifications:

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