Eesti Pank to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great chess player Paul Keres with specially designed two-euro commemorative coin

• The two-euro circulation coin dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Paul Keres will be issued on 7 January
• Coins will be available from the Eesti Pank museum and online shop from 12.00 noon on 8 January
• The two-euro coin is a normal circulation coin and it can be given and received as change in cash payments
• The highest quality BU finishes of the coin will also be available

TALLINN, 22-12-2015 — /EuropaWire/ — On 7 January 2016 Eesti Pank will release Estonia’s first specially designed two-euro commemorative coin to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great chess player Paul Keres. On that day, Eesti Pank will start to issue the coin to the banks. The coin will be available from the museum shop and the online shop from 8 January and it will be valid as legal tender throughout the euro area.

The 100th anniversary of the birth of Paul Keres falls on 7 January. The competition to design the coin dedicated to the world-famous chess player was won by Riho Luuse, and 500,000 of the two-euro coins will be minted with the special design, of which 5000 will have a high-quality finish and are intended for collectors. The coin is being minted in the Lithuanian Mint.

Collectable versions of the coin come in brilliant uncirculated finish in a presentation capsule on a card describing the coin, and 5000 of these will be issued at a price of ten euros each.

The two-euro coin is a normal circulation coin and it can be given and received as change in cash payments. The coin is available from 8 January from:

1. The Omniva online shop (https://www.omniva.ee/private/post/philately_and_numismatics#numismatics), where each purchaser can buy up to five rolls of coins, totalling 125 coins with a value of 250 euros, and five presentation cards
2. The shop of the Eesti Pank museum at Estonia pst 11 during opening hours, where coins can be exchanged individually or up to fifty at a time (two rolls), and five cards can be bought at one time

Eesti Pank cannot guarantee that all requests for coins can be met in full. Eesti Pank retains the right to change the amounts on sale in response to demand.

The Eesti Pank Museum and museum shop are open from Tuesdays to Fridays 12-17 and on Saturdays at 11-16.

The common side of the circulation two-euro coin with the special design is the same as for all other two-euro coins. Estonian commemorative coins bear the word EESTI on the edge vertically and horizontally. It should be noted that for technical reasons the height of the letters and symbols in the edge text are slightly smaller than on the earlier two-euro circulation coins and are the same as on the commemorative coin for the flag of the European Union.

What are commemorative coins?

The commemorative coin is a normal circulating coin with a special design. Such coins can be used for normal payments and also to draw attention to what is being commemorated on them. The special designs are related to an important local or European event. Commemorative coins are always two-euro coins, and no other coins are issued with special designs. Each euro-area member may issue two special two-euro coins into circulation each year, unless a joint commemorative coin has been issued, and they are valid for payment throughout the euro area.

The countries of the euro area may also issue one joint commemorative coin once a year. They have issued such coins four times, the first for the 50th anniversary of the European Union in 2007, the second for the 10th anniversary of the monetary and economic union in 2009, the third for the 10th anniversary of the euro as cash in 2012, and the fourth for the 30th anniversary of the flag of the European Union in 2015. The third and fourth of these were also issued by Eesti Pank.

More information on commemorative coins can be found on the website of the European Central Bank.

On 22 January 2016 Eesti Pank will release a collector coin to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Estonian statesman Jaan Poska. Further information will be published on the Eesti Pank website.

For further information:
Ingrid Mitt
​Public Relations Office
Tel: +372 668 0965, +372 512 6843
Email:press@eestipank.ee

SOURCE: Eesti Pank