Liras, drachmas and kroons: coins before the euro tell their own stories

Prior to the introduction of the euro on 1 January 1999, the European continent was awash in a huge variety of national coins. For their animation Beautiful Coins, the design studio NEWGOLD weaved together obsolete coins from each of the 19 countries that now exclusively use the European Union’s currency. All the coin designs hint at a national ethos, providing a stylised rendering of a moment in the history of each country. The result is a visually pleasing exploration of separate yet intersecting, and ultimately converging, stories.