Founded in 864, the French Mint (Monnaie de Paris) calls itself the oldest enterprise in the world. In charge of coinage for over a thousand years, these days (since 1958 akshly) it focuses on 'artistic production', meaning small runs of collectible coins. And they've just finished a run based on French values. You know, liberté, égalité, fraternité (literal translation - freedom, equality, keg parties).

And who better to end the sequence than Asterix and Obelix? The only free French left in Gaul, a somewhat equal partnership, an inseparable band of brothers.

The coins themselves are rather spiffing. There are 4 libertés, 4 égalités, and 4 fraternités, all worth 10 Euro.

And there's a 50 Euro coin about 'peace' - though the French Republic seems to have had the same idea about that word as the Roman Empire. Anyway it's got Dogmatix and everyone likes Dogmatix.

Here's a picture of a bag full of Asterix coins. You get 12 for 120 Euro, though I reckon you'd want about 30 in there to give it a proper olde-worlde heft.

The mint also does little statuette things. There's a bronze Asterix that seems more of a cash-in than an attempt to honour the high-minded ideals of the Republic.

If you want to buy some, you can head over to the Monnaie de Paris website.

And if you're more interested in the collecting side, there was an article on Coin Update aimed at numismatists.