Eesti Pank is holding a competition to design silver and gold collector coins for the Hanseatic town of Tallinn. These will be the first in a series of collector coins for the Hanseatic towns of Estonia, which will be released into circulation in the first quarter of 2017. Both individual designers and groups are welcome to enter the design competition.
The Hanseatic League was a medieval trading union based in the lands around the Baltic sea, and Estonia’s strategic location meant it played an important role in the economy of the region and in trade between Europe, Scandinavia and Russia. Some 160 towns were members of the League at one time or another, among them the Estonian towns of Tallinn, Viljandi, Tartu and Pärnu. The Estonian Hanseatic towns had a major impact on the economic and cultural development of Estonia and laid the foundations for the shape of the modern system of institutions. Estonia’s position on the edge between larger structures and its role as a model for uniting them dates back to the time of the League. The medieval form and appearance of the old town of Tallinn has been preserved since those days, which is why the Tallinn old town was entered on the UNESCO world heritage list in 1997. In commemoration of these Estonian towns and their historical role in the Hanseatic League, the committee advising Eesti Pank has proposed releasing a series of collector coins dedicated to those towns over the coming years.
Two coins in the series will be dedicated to Hanseatic Tallinn, a silver coin with a nominal value of eight euros, and a gold coin with a nominal value of 25 euros. Both designs must have the national great coat of arms, the words "Eesti Vabariik" and the year 2017 on the obverse side, and the original design together with the nominal value and the euro symbol on the reverse.
Designers or design teams entering the competition may submit one or more designs for the coins. It is recommended that designers submit designs for both coins together, but designs may be submitted separately for the two coins.
The deadline for submitting correctly formatted designs is 1 April 2016 at 12.00. Designs should be brought to Eesti Pank by the deadline or sent to: Mündižürii, Eesti Pank, Estonia pst 13, 15095 Tallinn.
Eesti Pank will announce the results of the competition by 8 June 2016 at the latest. Once the coin is released, the winning designer of each coin will receive a prize of 2000 euros
Eesti Pank is happy to receive suggestion for coins by post or email or through its website. The bank passes all the suggestions it receives to the advisory committee for analysis and 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.
The committee is chaired by Mart Laar, and its members are Aino Lepik von Wirén, Piret Õunapuu, Ivar Leimus, Raul Rebane, Toomas Kiho and Lauri Vahtre.
More information on the commemorative coins issued by Eesti Pank can be found on the Eesti Pank website: eestipank.ee