2016-03-15 Tue

Belgium’s 2.50 Euro coin might make you laugh until you get a heart attack. It features a national emblem depicting a statue of a little boy taking a leak! Belgium proposed the introduction of a commemorative Waterloo €2 coin. But since it represented the country’s most humiliating military defeat, France vetoed it.

Belgium found a law stating that any country in the eurozone could issue any new coins it wanted, providing they’re in an irregular denomination. So it invented a €2.5 coin, and minted 70,000 of those to commemorate Waterloo instead. Scotland also printed a £7.50 note plastered with the crying faces of all its ousted Labour MPs. This year is also the 500th anniversary of the French victory at Marignano, and Italy recently was among the nations which similarly vetoed plans for a commemorative €2 coin.