Two Euro 2012 Bayern (Bavaria), 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 Bayern (Bavaria) €2 coin is the seventh 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.

Bavaria (German: Bayern), officially the Free State of Bavaria (German: Freistaat Bayern), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of 70,550.19 km2, Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total land area of Germany. Bavaria's main cities are Munich (its capital and largest city and also the third largest city in Germany), Nuremberg, and Augsburg.

The history of Bavaria includes its earliest settlement by Iron Age Celtic tribes, followed by the conquests of the Roman Empire in the 1st century BC, when the territory was incorporated into the provinces of Raetia and Noricum. It became the Duchy of Bavaria (a stem duchy) in the 6th century AD following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. It was later incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire as the Electorate of Bavaria, became an independent kingdom after 1806, joined the Prussian-led German Empire in 1871 while retaining its title of kingdom, and finally became a state of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949.

German Two Euro coins issued in 2012 have now been in circulation for 11 years.