UPDATED! The silver coin for the 150th anniversary of the birth of Estonian statesman Friedrich Karl Akel will go on sale from today

Postitatud:

02.09.2021

From 9 September the collector coin will also be on sale in the shop of the Eesti Pank Museum. Up to three coins can be bought at a time. The coin remains on sale in the Omniva online store

 

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

Further information:

  • Friedrich Karl Akel (1871–1941)
    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.

For more information and pictures of Friedrich Akel, see our Facebook page.

  • Coin designer Kristo Kooskora
    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.
  • What are commemorative coins?
    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.

Additional information:
Ingrid Schmuul

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