The panel convened by Eesti Pank to decide on the designs for coins chose the design by Mall Nukke for a silver collector coin dedicated to the 150^th anniversary of the birth of Jaan Poska, and the design by Riho Luuse for the two-euro commemorative coin to mark the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Paul Keres.

The silver collector coin will have a nominal value of ten euros and the design features a portrait of Jaan Poska and the border of the Estonian state that the delegation led by Poska agreed during the peace negotiations when Estonian became independent. The coin is partly coloured in blue, black and white. Mall Nukke, the designer of the coin, is an Estonian artist and graphic designer. Eesti Pank is issuing the coin at the end of January in honour of the 150^th anniversary of the birth of the statesman and 4000 of the coins will be minted.

Eleven designs were submitted in the competition, and second place went to Jaan Evart, third to Margus Kadarik and Toomas Niklus, fourth place to a second design by Mall Nukke and fifth to Jaano Ester.

The two-euro commemorative coin dedicated to Paul Keres, which will enter circulation as an ordinary coin with a special design, features a portrait of the great Estonian chess player with his name and some chess pieces. Riho Luuse, who created it, is a designer who has previously also designed postage stamps. The coin will circulate throughout the whole euro area, and the design will now be passed for approval to all the euro-area states before it is issued at the start of 2016. There will be 500,000 of the coins issued, of which 5000 will have the highest quality BU finish.

Thirty-one designs were submitted in the competition, and second and third places also went to designs by Riho Luuse, while fourth place went to Margus Kadarik and Toomas Niklus and fifth to Ivar Sakk.

Once the coin is released, the winning designer will receive a prize of 2000 euros while the second-placed design will win 700 euros, the third-placed 500, the fourth 200 and the fifth 100. Where designers have worked together on a design, they will have to share the prize money.

No winning design was chosen for the collector coin dedicated to the Estonian athletes and delegation attending the summer Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro as the panel did not consider that any satisfactory designs were submitted. Eesti Pank has now invited three artists, Liis Dvorjanski, Tiit Jürna and Martin Pärna, to produce designs for the coin. Each participant in the competition will be paid 1000 euros. The competition will run until 1 October and the results will be announced by 14 October at the latest.

Background Information

• The collector coins issued by Eesti Pank.
• More details about the design competition
• The designs for the collector coin dedicated to Jaan Poska and the commemorative coin for the 30th anniversary of the EU flag

For further information:
Ingrid Mitt
Public Relations Office
Tel: 668 0965, 512 6843
Email: [email protected]
Press inquiries: [email protected]