Next year will mark 150 years since the Society of Estonian Literati was founded, and Eesti Pank is issuing a two-euro circulation coin with a special design in honour of this. The coin will use a design by Riho Luuse.

Second place among the 34 entries in the design competition went to graphic designer and associate professor at the Estonian Academy of Arts Ivar Sakk, and third place to architect and student at the academy Martin Niglas.

The winning design shows an open book with the words of the first president of the Society of Estonian Literati Jacob Hurt written on it: “Kui me ei saa suureks rahvaarvult, peame saama suureks vaimult”, meaning ‘If we cannot be a great nation in number, we must be great in spirit’.

Pilt

The Society of Estonian Literati was founded in 1872 in Viljandi. The society was founded to promote literature and writing in Estonian and through that to raise the level of culture of the Estonian nation.

The winning designer, Riho Luuse, is the designer who also created the two-euro coin dedicated to Paul Keres that was issued in 2016 and the gold and silver collector coins dedicated to Hanseatic Tallinn in 2017.

The prize for the winner of the design competition is 1500 euros, with the second placed design receiving 1000 euros, and the third placed 700.

Preparations will be made to mint the coin from the winning design from the design competition, and the design may change for technical reasons. Eesti Pank will publish the final appearance of the coin before it is issued in 2022.

Two-euro commemorative coins with a special design in 2022

The central banks of the euro area will issue a joint commemorative two-euro coin in 2022 that is dedicated to the 35th anniversary of the European student exchange programme Erasmus. The design for the coin was chosen in March from a public vote organised by the European Commission. The winning design was by Joaquin Jimenez of the French coin minter La Monnaie de Paris. The design for the coin can be seen on the website of the European Commission.

Collector coins in 2022

Eesti Pank will issue three collector coins next year:

• A silver collector coin dedicated to the XXIV Olympic Winter Games in Beijing
• A silver collector coin dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of Johan Pitka
• A gold collector coin dedicated to the Livonian Diet

Eesti Pank will publish the results of the design competitions for these collector coins in May at the latest.

Suggestions for collector coins and commemorative coins

Eesti Pank is happy to receive suggestions for collector coins and commemorative coins to be issued in 2023:

https://www.eestipank.ee/en/ideas-collector-coins-and-commemorative-coins

The bank passes all the suggestions it receives to the advisory committee for expert opinion. The proposals of the advisory committee are used by the management of Eesti Pank when they decide on which commemorative and collector coins to issue.

Additional information:
Ingrid Schmuul
Communications Specialist
Eesti Pank
Tel: 668 0965, 5697 9146
Press enquiries: [email protected]