I just found this in my desk drawer. I don't have a clue how it got there. I wasn't searching the bottom of the unruly stack of Post-Its, pens, erasers and paperclips, it just popped up. A little gift.
I guess I'm stuck with it, as I can't exchange it for Euros. But, if I could, it would be worth approximately 7.6 euro cents. Since euro coins in France come in 1,2 and 5 cent denominations, it's worth a little something.
I have a plastic cup in my kitchen drawer filled to the brim with 1, 2 and 5 centime coins. They are like US pennies, a bother. Once in awhile, I will pull out a bunch of these coins and use them to buy a baguette. There's one boulangerie in our neighborhood that always gives me the 1's and 2's as change and I'm sure it's because of my accent. So, back they go! I put them in a baggie and pour them into the little wooden container that they have on the counter so that the clerk doesn't touch the customer when they pass the change. The clerk has to count them before handing over the bread. After five plus years of visiting this shop, you'd think they'd trust me.
Not all European countries have the small euro coins. I noticed in Holland, that the smallest denomination coin is the 5 centime. If the purchase is 83 centimes, they round up, and give you 15 centimes change for a Euro. I guess if it is 82 centimes, they give you 20 centimes? I don't remember, maybe they always round up, in favor of the store.
Just for the record, the French franc was valued before the Euro was introduced at 6.55957 francs per Euro. For many years, a popular gadget was a thing that looked like a calculator that translated Euros to Francs and vice-versa so people could figure out how much things cost. Price inflation when the Euro took effect is another blog post.
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