• Three thousand of the coins have been minted
• Each coin will cost 45 euros and have a nominal value of 15 euros
• The coin will go on sale at 13.00 on 2 September in the Omniva online shop
• The coins will not be sold in the shop of the museum of Eesti Pank or in post offices

On 2 September Eesti Pank will release a silver collector coin to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Estonian statesman Friedrich Karl Akel. Akel was a doctor, diplomat and Foreign Minister, and in 1924 he served as the Estonian Head of State. One achievement of the government he led was that it secured the state finances.

The coin shows a fragment from a portrait of Friedrich Karl Akel and his signature against a background of the Estonian flag. The silver coin was designed by Kristo Kooskora and the coins were minted by the Lithuanian mint.

Friedrich Karl Akel was born on 5 September 1871 in Mulgimaa, and was Estonian Head of State and Foreign Minister and a diplomat, having studied medicine and worked as an eye doctor. He was Head of State from 26 March to 16 December 1924. He played an active role in society throughout his life, joining the Estonian Students Society while he was at university, then later chairing various societies when he lived and worked in Tallinn, where he was also a member and later chair of the Tallinn city council, and was chairman of the Tallinn Loan and Savings Society, and vice president of the consistory of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church. He also headed the Estonian Olympic Committee. Friedrich Karl Akel served three times as foreign minister and was a diplomat in Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands. The Soviet occupying forces arrested Akel in 1940 and he died in summer 1941 in an unknown location.

The coins dedicated to Friedrich Karl Akel will only be on sale through the Omniva online store. The coins will not be sold in post offices or in the shop of the museum of Eesti Pank because of the risk of the spread of Covid-19. Sales of the coin online will start on Thursday 2 September at 13.00. Each purchaser may buy up to three coins, and the coins cannot be reserved in advance.

The designer of the coin Kristo Kooskora graduated from Tartu Art School and holds a Masters in Cultural Heritage and Conservation from the Estonian Academy of Arts. Alongside his everyday design work he is a researcher of architectural heritage and a supervisor in the Faculty of Arts and Culture of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Further information:

• The coin dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Karl Akel is a collector coin. Collector coins are mostly made of precious metals and commemorate important events or people for the issuing country. Collector coins are only legal tender in the country of issue. They are not intended for circulation, but rather for collecting or as gifts, and their selling price usually exceeds their nominal value.
• The Omniva customer service can be contacted by telephone on 661 6616 or by email at [email protected]. customer service operates on working days from 09.00-20.00, and at weekends and on national holidays from 09.00–15.00.

For further information:
Viljar Rääsk
Head of Communications
Eesti Pank
6680 745, 5275 055
Email: [email protected]
Press enquiries: [email protected]