Two Euro 2011 Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia), Coin from Germany - detailed information

The Two Euro coin (€2.00) is a circulating bi-metallic coin made of two alloys: the inner part of nickel brass, the outer part of copper-nickel. Like all the common circulation coins (from 1 cent to €2), the denomination is issued by the separate countries in the Eurozone and is legal tender in all of them, irrespective of which country has issued it. The denomination was introduced in 2002, when Germany retired the German Mark currency and introduced the Euro.

The coins have a common reverse designed by Luc Luycx in 1999 which shows a map of the European Union; it was changed in 2007 to reflect the enlargement of the Union. Each country has its own national obverse; the German regular obverse features the German Federal Eagle.

The €2 is also the only denomination in which circulating commemorative Euro coins are issued; these are also legal tender in all countries of the Eurozone, no matter which country issued them; commemoratives of other denominations are only legal tender in the issuing country. The number of commemorative coins is limited to two (before 2012 to one) per country per year (in addition to any common issue) and to 5 percent of the total mintage output. Given that the reverse is fixed, the commemorative designs are always on the obverse.

The Nordrhein-Westfalen €2 coin is the sixth issue in the series called Die 16 Bundesländer der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (The 16 States of the Federal Republic of Germany). The year in which the coin for a specific state is issued coincides with that state's Presidency of the Bundesrat.

Nordrhein-Westfalen (in English: North Rhine-Westphalia), commonly shortened to NRW, is a state (Land) in Western Germany. Covering an area of 34,084 square kilometres, it is the fourth-largest German state by size.

North Rhine-Westphalia features 30 of the 81 German municipalities with over 100,000 inhabitants, including Cologne (over 1 million), the state capital Düsseldorf, Dortmund and Essen and other cities predominantly located in the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area, the largest urban area in Germany and the fourth-largest on the European continent.

North Rhine-Westphalia was established in 1946 after World War II from the Prussian provinces of Westphalia and the northern part of Rhine Province (North Rhine), and the Free State of Lippe by the British military administration in Allied-occupied Germany and became a state of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. The city of Bonn served as the federal capital until the reunification of Germany in 1990 and as the seat of government until 1999.

German Two Euro coins issued in 2011 have now been in circulation for 14 years.