November 6, 2014 – The collector coin of Finland Proper was released on 29 September as part of the coin series paying tribute to the emblematic animals of Finland’s provinces. The provincial coin, with a nominal value of five euros, depicts the fox with Turku Castle in the background. The collector coin’s reverse bears the historic coat of arms of Finland Proper.
Finland/ 5 EUR/ 9.8 g/ 27.25 mm/ Designer: Erkki Vainio (obverse), Nora Tapper (reverse)/ Mintage: 35,000 (UNC), 10,000 (Proof).
This Finland Proper collector coin is part of a series of coins minted by Mint of Finland by decision of the Ministry of Finance. The series honours the emblematic animals of Finland’s historical provinces.
Turku Castle. Source: Otto Jula/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en.
This five-euro coin is the third provincial coin released for Finland Proper. The first coin, struck by Mint of Finland in 2010, commemorated the province’s tradition of high-quality wood carving with a depiction of the Rusko tankard. For the Provincial Buildings series, Finland Proper received a coin commemorating Turku Cathedral in 2013.
”Provincial coins have made Finnish people look at their coins more closely and think about the stories they tell. The collector coins of Finland Proper preserve a piece of the province’s cultural heritage and relate the province’s values from one generation to the next,” says Mint of Finland Communications Director Henna Karjalainen.
Previously released in the series were the coins of Karelia and Savonia on 27 May, followed by the provincial coin for Åland on 18 August.
The series’ remaining five collector coins, for the provinces of Satakunta, Ostrobothnia, Uusimaa, Lapland and Häme, are planned for release in 2015.
More about the Mint and its products here.