Euro Coins - Features For Persons With Impaired Sight

Features For Persons With Impaired Sight

Euro coins were designed in cooperation with organisations representing blind persons, and as a result they incorporate many features allowing them to be distinguished by touch alone. In addition, their visual appearance is designed to make them easy to tell apart for persons who cannot read the inscriptions on the coins.

The coins increase in size and weight with value. Of the eight denominations of euro coins, the three lowest denominations are small, resemble copper in colour and are quite thin and light. The next three denominations resemble gold in colour and are thicker as well as heavier. The highest two denominations are bimetallic, being generally larger and thicker than the lower denominations.

In general, the greater the value, the heavier and larger the coin. Copper colour identifies low value; gold colour identifies medium value; two different metals identify high value.

• The €0.01 is the smallest of all coins, and size is probably the best description. Its diameter is 16.3 mm, about the size of the thumb-nail of an average adult. The edge of the coin is smooth and it is copper in colour.
• The €0.02 is slightly larger than the one-cent coin and is of the same copper colour. A distinctive groove runs circumferentially around its edge, easily felt by a finger; the groove gives the visual and tactile impression that it consists of two coins pressed into one, though this is not the case. Its diameter is 18.9 mm.
• The €0.05 is the largest of the copper coins, and is slightly larger than the two-cent coin, 21.4 mm. It has a smooth edge.
• The €0.10 is gold in color. At 19.8 mm, it is slightly smaller than the five-cent piece, but is much thicker, and has a coarse serration around the edge. It is heavier than any of the copper coins.
• The €0.20 is larger than the ten-cent coin and is also gold in colour. It has a unique group of seven notches (forming a Spanish flower shape) around its otherwise smooth edge, making it easy to recognise by touch. Its diameter is 22.3 mm.
• The €0.50 is also gold in colour and is noticeably thicker, heavier, and larger than the coins of smaller denominations; it also has a coarsely serrated edge. Its diameter is 24.25 mm.
• The €1 has a silver-coloured interior and a gold-coloured perimeter. The edge is distinctively marked with alternating smooth and finely serrated sections. It is of about the same thickness and weight as the fifty-cent piece, but its edge markings readily distinguish it from that coin. At 23.2 mm, its diameter places it between the 20c and the 50c coins in size.
• The €2 is of the same colours as the one-euro coin, but they are reversed: the perimeter is silver coloured whilst the interior is gold coloured. At 26.1 mm, it has the largest diameter of any euro coin. Its edge has a fine, continuous serration which is embossed with stars and letters differing between nations. Whilst this is difficult to detect by touch, this may not be necessary in order to distinguish it from other coins, given its size.

Although there have been other currencies predating the euro that were specifically designed in similar ways (different sizes, colours, and ridges) to aid the visually impaired, the introduction of the euro constitutes the first time that authorities have consulted associations representing the blind and visually impaired before the release of a currency.