Will a Finnish design be worth tens of millions of euros?

Citizens and inhabitants of Eurozone member states will choose the design for the new two-euro collector coin in the European Commission's poll between 6 June and 24 June.

Eurozone member states expect the new coin to be issued at the beginning of 2012, when euro notes and coins will have been in use for 10 years. The European Commission estimates that a total of about 90 million collector coins are likely to be minted in member states.

The open competition also saw Finns take part

A total of 800 entries were sent in response to the competition, with 25 coming from Finland. The design competition was open to all EU citizens in the Eurozone over the age of 12.

The winning design will be announced on 30 June. The victorious design and the winner's initials will be minted on millions of euro coins, which will be issued in all Eurozone member states. The successful entrant will be invited to a Eurozone mint to follow the coin's first minting process.

A euro coin set will be awarded to one lucky voter randomly drawn from those who voted for the winning design.

From the five best, the public will choose one victor

From the competition open to Eurozone citizens a professional jury has selected five coin designs, from which the general public will be able to vote for their favourite.

"The design for a circulation coin will now be chosen for the first time by popular vote from all of the entries by citizens from all across the Eurozone," said Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Olli Rehn.

The euro is used in 17 EU member states, in which more than 330 million people use the currency every day. Usually each Eurozone member state issues its own euro coins, on which one side is the same in all states and the other side is specific to that state.

However, at the beginning of 2012 all euro countries will issue a collector 10th anniversary two-euro coin, whose national side will be replaced by a common design.

While you're online, why not vote for the protection of the Baltic Sea?

The Finnish Ministry of Finance has decided that Mint of Finland will issue a Finnish collector coin in October to promote the protection of the Baltic Sea.

The design of the collector coin will be chosen from entries sent by high school students from around the Baltic area by the public on Mint of Finland's website between 15 June and 22 August.

Further information:

Henna Karjalainen
Communications and Marketing Manager
Mint of Finland Ltd.
+ 358 50 575 9197
henna.karjalainen(at)mint.fi

Mint of Finland Ltd. is the leading mint in the Eurozone. It is the sole owner of the German coin-blank manufacturer, Saxonia EuroCoin GmbH, AB Myntverket (the mint of Sweden), and holds a 50 percent share in the Norwegian Det Norske Myntverket. Mint of Finland is dedicated to designing, marketing and minting coins. The company is owned by the Finnish state. Mint of Finland produces metallic currency, commemorative and collector coins, as well as coin sets. During 2011, Mint of Finland will issue six new collector coins and seven provincial coins. Finns are able to see how coins are produced at the ‘About a coin’ exhibition at Heureka, the Finnish Science Centre. For further information about the 2011 events, go to: www.suomenrahapaja.fi