BRUSSELS MINT TO CLOSE

Belgium will stop making Euro coins at the end of this year

A portion of the press room at the Brussels mint shows eight high-capacity presses that will soon be in some other nation's mint.

Wanna buy a late-model coin press? Belgium is closing its modern mint in Brussels as of the end of this year and selling off its coin manufacturing assets. This surprising bit of news we got during a visit to the mint to present a copy of my English-Spanish numismatic dictionary, El Numiscadero to the mint's library.

The executive who gave us a brief tour noted that while the coining operations will be abandoned in less than 90 days, the $60,000 per month lease for the large modern building will continue for three more years as a government expense.

Belgium is one of the smallest nations in the EU, perhaps one reason why it was originally selected as the headquarters for the grand union of nations here. Letting France or Germany be the center of attention apparently would have been just too obvious.

As at all modern mints, freshly struck coins are rolled and packaged for delivery to banks.

* 25 October: definitive closing of the web shop on www.europemint.eu, after which there will no further opportunity to order with the RMB.

Following the restructuring of the Royal Mint of Belgium our webshop will be closed from this moment onwards. We would like to thank you for your confidence in our services and will keep you informed about the future developments within the Royal Mint of Belgium.

To visit the Royal Mint of Belgium web site (English), see:
http://www.europemint.eu/en_2.htm

For more information on Gary's book, see:
NEW BOOK: EL NUMISCADERO (http://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n03a02.html)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web