What is your Baltic Sea like?

Mint of Finland will produce the Protecting the Baltic Sea commemorative coin based on the artwork receiving the most votes. The coin will be issued in October. The Protecting the Baltic Sea commemorative coin is the third coin to be published in the Ethical collector coins series.

All visitors to the Mint of Finland website may participate in the vote. All voters will participate in a raffle for three Protecting the Baltic Sea commemorative coins.

Common responsibility reflected in the artworks

The theme for the 2011 ethical commemorative coin is chosen among the secondary school students’ artworks selected to the design contest. Students from high schools of the visual arts in Finland and the Baltic Sea states were invited to participate in the contest.

The Collector Coin Committee pre-selected the eleven best works for public vote. The committee thanks the schools for participating in the contest and characterises the contest as high-level and refreshing.

”These youngsters have managed to encapsulate the message of protecting the Baltic Sea in their pieces in a way that appeals to one’s feelings. The expression in the pieces was brave and fresh and they convey a genuine concern and a common responsibility, but also joy for the Baltic Sea” says Yrjö Sotamaa, Chairman of the Committee on Collector Coins.

As expert members in the Protecting the Baltic Sea collector coin jury were Sinikka Mäntysalo-Lamppu from the Finnish Children’s Parliament and Susanna Moini from Kestävä Ltd.

In Finland, participating schools included the Helsinki Upper Secondary School of the Visual Arts, the Juhana Herttua High School, the Kajaani Upper Secondary School, the Lapinlahti Senior High School and Senior High School in Visual Arts; the Savonlinna Senior Secondary School of Art and the Tammerkoski High School in Russia; Petrozavodsk Art School No. 1 in Sweden; the Kulturama Gymnasium in Estonia; Tallinna Kunstigümnaasium and the Klaipeda Eduardas Balsys Gymnasium of Arts in Lithuania, and the Liepāja Secondary School of Art in Latvia.

Further information:

Yrjö Sotamaa
Chairman of the Collector Coin Committee
yrjo.sotamaa(at)aalto.fi

Maija Hiiri
Secretary of the Committee on Collector Coins
maija.hiiri(at)mint.fi
Tel. +358 9 8943 4332

The Ministry of Finance makes the decisions on the issue of official Finnish collector coins. To assist in practical matters, it set up the Collector Coin Committee, which is comprised of members of the Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Finland, Mint of Finland and representatives of culture and the arts. The committee will make independent proposals for new commemorative coins. After the Ministry of Finance makes a favourable decision, the committee will organise a design competition and select a winner. Finally, the committee will propose that the Ministry use the winning entry for a coin’s design. The chairman of the committee is Professor Emeritus Yrjö Sotamaa. Other members include Senior Budget Secretary Marja Kirppu from the Ministry of Finance, docent Maria Lähteenmäki from the University of Helsinki, curator Heikki Halme of the Ateneum Art Museum, Head of Currency Mauri Lehtinen of the Bank of Finland's Currency Department and Mint of Finland's CEO Paul Gustafsson. Representatives or artist associations (the Finnish Association of Architects, Ornamo, the Association of Finnish Sculptors) are invited to participate in the Collector Coin Committee's meetings as experts. In addition, the committee may invite other experts who are familiar with the subject. For further details about the Collector Coin Committee's activities, see our website at www.suomenrahapaja.fi