Obverse. Photo © NumisCorner.com
  • 2 Euro 2005, KM# 1063, Spain, Juan Carlos I, 400th Anniversary of the First Edition of Don Quixote
  • 2 Euro 2005, KM# 1063, Spain, Juan Carlos I, 400th Anniversary of the First Edition of Don Quixote
Description

Don Quixote (The history of the valorous and wittie Knight-Errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha), is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Published in two volumes, in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote is considered the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature and one of the earliest canonical novels, it regularly appears high on lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published, such as the Bokklubben World Library collection that cites Don Quixote as authors' choice for the "best literary work ever written".

Obverse

Depicts Don Quixote holding a lance, with the windmills from one of his most well-known escapades in the background. The inscription Spain is impressed into the surface of the coin to the left of the image, with the mint mark (an M topped by a crown) below. The twelve stars of the European Union are placed on the outer ring, with the four on the right side impressed into the surface of the coin, as well, and the year mark placed between three of the stars (20★05) at the bottom.

Tilting at windmills is an English idiom that means attacking imaginary enemies. The expression is derived from Don Quixote, and the word "tilt" in this context comes from jousting.

ESPAÑA
M
20 05

Reverse

A geographical map of Western Europe spans the outer ring and inner core on the right side of the coin. The inscription 2 EURO is superimposed over the map of Europe, with the numeral “2” located in an open field representing the eastern Atlantic Ocean.

12 stars are located on the right side of the outer ring, with six stars atop the map of Europe and six stars below it; six vertical stripes cut across the inner core of the coin, visually connecting the upper and lower star segments.

Luc Luycx, a designer at the Royal Belgian Mint, designed the Euro’s common reverse; his initials, LL, are seen on the right side of the design, just under the “O” in “EURO.”

2 EURO
LL

Edge

The sequence "2 ★★" repeated six times alternately upright and inverted

2 ★★ 2 ★★ 2 ★★ 2 ★★ 2 ★★ 2 ★★

2 Euro

400th Anniversary of the First Edition of Don Quixote

KM# 1063 Schön# 384
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Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Circulating)
Material Bi-Metallic
Ring Cupronickel
Center Nickel Brass
Weight 8.5 g
Diameter 25.75 mm
Thickness 2.2 mm
Shape round
Alignment Medal
Mint
Royal Spanish Mint (FNMT-RCM)

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