250 francs - Albert II - 50 years of the BENELUX

The coin's story

This 250 francs coin in 925 thousandths silver commemorates the 50th anniversary of Benelux. On 5 September 1944, in London, the ministers Paul-Henri Spaak for Belgium, Eelco van Kleffens for the Netherlands and Joseph Bech for Luxembourg signed a customs convention between the three countries. Supplemented by a protocol on 14 March 1947, it came into force on 1 January 1948. The reverse brings together the parliaments of the three countries above the seals of the signatories. The portrait of King Albert II, who reigned from 1993 to 2013, is the work of Roland van den Broucke (RVB), and the reverse that of Jan Alfons Keustermans, known as Jake. In proof, recognisable by the qp mark, it has a mintage of 31,800, of which 25,000 were sold in a set with the Dutch and Luxembourg coins. It was demonetised on 10 December 2001.