People who bought the gold coin for the Livonian Diet last October can exchange the coin in the museum shop of Eesti Pank until end of July if they wish. They can also give notification until the end of July if they want to come later to exchange the coin. Eesti Pank stopped selling the gold coins for the Livonian Diet last autumn because of a fault in production.

People who bought the gold coin are welcome to bring it to the Eesti Pank Museum shop, where the quality of it can be checked on the spot, and the coin can be exchanged immediately if desired. Purchasers who want to exchange the coin later should inform the museum shop of the central bank about this by the end of July at [email protected] or by telephone on 668 0650.

The central bank supplied replacement coins this spring first of all to those clients who had placed their orders in the autumn through the Omniva online store, but who did not receive their coins immediately because of the production fault. Those clients who actually received their original gold coins last autumn can now exchange them until the end of July, after which Eesti Pank will again put the gold coin for the Livonian Diet on general sale. Minting the replacements did not change the size of the mintage, which remains at 3000 coins. Once the final date for the exchange of coins has passed, the central bank will announce separately when the gold coin for the Livonian Diet will again go on general sale.

“I apologise on behalf of Eesti Pank that there was a fault in the production of the gold coin for the Livonian Diet that meant we had to order a new set of coins. This all unfortunately took much longer than expected, as there was a further production fault in some of the second set of coins. We thank all those who have been patiently waiting for the coins for their understanding”, said Rait Roosve, Head of the Cash and Infrastructure Department at Eesti Pank. He explained that the central bank has taken the lessons from this on board in its procurement of production for collector coins.

People wanting to exchange the gold coin for the Livonian Diet can come to the Eesti Pank Museum shop or contact it by email at [email protected] or by telephone on 668 0650. The Eesti Pank Museum is open from Tuesdays to Fridays 12–17 and 11–16 on Saturdays.

Eesti Pank thanks all the coin collectors who have shown understanding and patience while waiting for the replacement coins, and apologises again that the replacement process has taken longer than expected.

Background
Eesti Pank started to sell the gold collector coin dedicated to the Livonian Diet and minted by the Portuguese Mint in October last year, but marks were found on the surface of the coins, and sales were halted. Expert analysis ordered by Eesti Pank showed that the stains on the gold coins were caused by silver sulphide that had resulted from a chemical reaction. After discovering the defect, Eesti Pank stopped the sale of the coins, and the Portuguese Mint started making replacement coins. The mintage of the gold coin for the Livonian Diet was 3000. Minting the replacements did not change that, and the mintage remains at 3000 coins. The coins are minted by the Portuguese Mint.

Additional information:
Further information on the gold coin is available by telephone on 668 0650 or by email at [email protected]

Inquiries from journalists:
Viljar Rääsk
Head of Communications
Eesti Pank
527 5055
[email protected]