This year is the bicentennial of the battle of Waterloo, and in order to celebrate that momentous occasion in their history, Belgium wanted to release a special run of commemorative coins.
However, given that it was one of the most humiliating defeats in French military history, they decided to use their veto and stop Belgium from getting their way. Ever the bureaucrats, the Belgians went and consulted the legislation and found themselves a loophole whereby any country is allowed to produce a run of special coins provided that they're of an irregular denomination.
Being the clever and cheeky sorts that they are, Belgium then went and made a €2.50 coin that marked the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, and minted 70,000 of them for circulation.
France probably aren't thrilled about it, but they haven't kicked up a fuss just yet. However, it did get us thinking that maybe Ireland should produce a strange coin commemorating some of the biggest moments in our cultural history, like that time Kim and Kanye holidayed here, or Biddy and Miley from Glenroe, so we put a poll below where you can vote and let us know what you think we should commemorate.
Via The Guardian. Main pic via Camilo Rueda López/Flickr
