A 50-euro gold coin designed with Japan's popular character Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty, the mouthless cat turned global icon of cuteness, will make a foray into the currency market with gold and silver euro coins showing her having the time of her life in Paris.

The most expensive one-ounce gold coin is priced at 168,000 yen (1,400 dollars, 1,200 euros) each, compared with a face value of 50 euros.

The coin has a color image of Kitty in a ballroom gown dancing with her boyfriend Daniel in their "Versailles Debut."

A smaller gold coin, priced at 52,500 yen, is titled "Kitty Becomes an Opera Singer" and shows the feline heroine in a black floor-length dress.

Three types of silver coins, each priced at 8,400 yen, are also on sale, featuring Kittys taking in a Parisian cafe, flying over the city with an umbrella and shopping on the Champs-Elysees.

The coins, each fit in a special miniature handbag, can be purchased at Taisei coin shops in Japan or through the two companies' websites.

Hello Kitty, which started in 1974 in Japan as a moonfaced cartoon cat on a coin purse, has spread to 60 nations appearing on 50,000 different products.