OREANDA-NEWS. July 23, 2010. Eesti Pank will launch the production of Estonian euro coins in the Mint of Finland. The total volume will be 194 million coins, reported the press-centre of Eesti Pank.

"In the last four months, Eesti Pank and the Mint of Finland have been making technical preparations to produce Estonian euro coins. A part of the preparation work was minting test coins. By now, the technical preparations have been finished and the design of the coins has been fine-tuned in a way that it is possible to start minting the coins next week," said Rait Roosve, Head of the Cash and Security Department of Eesti Pank.

Eesti Pank will start frontloading the coins to commercial banks in September. In order to guarantee cash transport security, Eesti Pank will cooperate with the Ministry of the Interior. Police and Border Guard Board will contribute to securing the transport.

On €1 and €2 coins the outline of Estonia is higher than coin surface (positive) and the outline also includes the relief of Estonia. On euro cents the outline of Estonia is lower than coin surface (negative) and the relief of Estonia is not depicted.

In addition, EUR1 and EUR2 coin also differ. On EUR2 coin, the northernmost point of Estonia, the Vaindloo island and the westernmost point, the Nootamaa island (isle) are shown. Together with the southernmost point near Naha and the easternmost point in Narva, both of which are situated on the land boundary, they depict the land territory of Estonia in relation to cardinal points. On EUR1 coin this is not depicted.

Eesti Pank announced a competition for the minting of Estonian euro coins in 2005. The Mint of Finland made the best offer.

The national side of Estonian euro coin features the outline of Estonia. The national side was designed by Lembit Lohmus who was the winner of the design competition organised in 2004. 134 designs were submitted to the competition and a jury of experts selected 10 designs which then participated in one-week telephone voting. A total of 45 453 votes were given and the design made by Lohmus received the most votes - 12 482.

The design of the national sides of the euro coins may not be altered, except in monarchies after every 15 years or when the monarch changes. An exception is made for commemorative coins, as they are limited-edition coins with special designs issued into circulation in case of important national events. Every country may issue these commemorative coins once a year. In the future, Estonia may also issue collector coins which are usually produced from precious metals.

In addition to commemorative coins issued by individual euro area countries, the euro countries may issue coins jointly to commemorate important events in the history of the European Union. Collector coins for which there are no design limits are also of special design.