The possibilities of minting coins in Lithuania and abroad, as well as the prospects of establishing the country’s own mint began to be considered almost immediately after the restoration of independence. These issues were constantly on the agendas of the Government meetings and key points for the Ministries of Industry and Finance because these institutions were obliged to address all problems related to them. A coordination working group was set up at the Ministry of Finance for the establishment of the Mint, where, in addition to representatives of the aforementioned ministries, the best specialists from industry and research institutes were also employed. The possibilities of minting coins in Lithuania were examined, because according to the Ministry’s calculations, their permanent minting abroad would have cost too much.
Trips were made abroad to gain experience, as well as to find sellers of production tools and coin blank suppliers (although the possibility to produce blanks in Lithuania is not excluded).
A meeting on coin minting took place at the Ministry of Industry on 3 October 1990. The technical parameters of the coins, their production terms and quantities, and production organisation options were considered. It was decided to propose to the Government to approve the technical parameters of the coins and to organise the production of coins at the Lithuanian Mint. It was proposed to mint red 1, 2, 5 centas copper, tin, and zinc alloy and yellow 10, 20, 50 centas copper, aluminium, and nickel alloy coins. The smallest 1 centas coin had to have a diameter of 16 mm and the largest 50 centas coin was 23 mm. When considering the possibility of postponing the deadline for the issuance of coins, it was proposed to buy coins produced abroad.
At the meeting of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania on 12 November 1990, the coin denomination system and the need for individual denominations were examined. It was decided to order the Ministry of Finance to mint 140 million litas and centas coins (total amount — LTL 143 million) at the Lithuanian Mint established by the Ministry: 10 cents — 40 million, 20 cents — 20 million, 50 cents — 10 million, 1 litas — 40 million, 2 litas — 20 million, 5 litas — 10 million units.
Coin minting abroad
However, the organisation of the Lithuanian Mint took a long time, so it was decided to mint coins in a foreign mint. This work was entrusted by the Ministry of Finance to the Birmingham Mint in the United Kingdom (from which it was decided to buy presses for the future Lithuanian Mint), which also minted bronze coins of the interwar period of the Republic of Lithuania in 1925. The total amount of the contract, together with the facilities, amounted to £1,111,975. Under this contract, the coins were to be delivered to Lithuania by the end of February 1992.
As with the delivery of banknotes, cargo, organisational and other related issues were called “Technika” for secrecy purposes, and persons involved in receiving and transporting the cargo were obliged to ensure the confidentiality of the work carried out. Minted Lithuanian circulation coins reached Lithuania almost a month earlier than the first Lithuanian banknotes. The first cargo of 1, 2, 5 litas and 10, 20, and 50 centas coins to the port of Klaipėda by the boat Henrikas Kuivas was delivered on the night of 31 October 1991.
Another consignment of coins of all denominations by the same vessel reached Lithuania on 9 December 1991, and on 8 January 1992, 140 million coins were already entered in the Bank of Lithuania’s accounts, the total amount of which was LTL 143 million. On 16 February and 2 March 1992, additional shipments of 2 and 5 litas coins were brought to Klaipeda port by the boat Rusnė, and on 8 March by the boat Šventoji.
Coin minting was not without errors, a huge number of them were minted, the wrong technical parameters were chosen, the quality of the coins was no good. Although in 1990 the samples of the first trial coins minted by the sculptor Petras Henrikas Garška were selected with a sufficient coin diameter, litas and centas coins of lower weight and diameter were commissioned to the Birmingham Mint, thus reducing the cost of minting and saving metal. Contracts for their minting were signed when it was planned to exchange litas into roubles at the rate of 1:1. However, with the prolonged introduction of the litas and the decision to exchange litas into talonas by a ratio of 1:100 and later issuing low denomination (1, 2, and 5) banknotes, many coins became unnecessary and were not used.
Lithuanian Mint
By order of the Minister of Finance, Romualdas Sikorskis, the Lithuanian Mint, subordinate to the Ministry of Finance, was established on 10 December 1990. However, the “Order on the Lithuanian Mint” was signed two days later. There were still no tools for the production of coins or the building itself where the mint was supposed to operate. The search for the location for the mint began.
Two scenarios were developed for the establishment of the mint: reconstruction and adaptation of an old building or production premises for temporary production and design or the construction of a new company. The first (organisation of temporary production) plan was to find a suitable building for production by the beginning of March 1991, to take it over, prepare a project, arrange financing matters, and sign a contract with contractors for the reconstruction of the building. According to the second (design and construction of the new company) plan, the project was to be completed by mid-May 1991, purchase the imported production facilities by the end of September 1992, complete the construction and installation works by the end of 1992, and the start of production was scheduled for the first quarter of 1993.
However, reality struck a blow to these optimistic plans. Even after the decision was made to abandon the design and construction works of the new company, organising of the mint took time. In order to keep the issues related to minting secret, the Mint was supposed to be called the technical service station of the Bank of Lithuania, and in the search for suitable premises for the mint in Vilnius, their lists were referred to as “places for representative offices of foreign firms.” Such proposed places included buildings to be reconstructed in the centre and old town of Vilnius, blocks near Liejyklos, Pylimo, Naugarduko, Vingrių, Kalvarijų, Tado Kosciuškos streets, the intersection of Jono Basanavičiaus and Pylimo streets. Other possible locations included the buildings for the Tėvynės and Neries cinemas, garages in the yard of the Jesuit monastery near St Rapolas church in Šnipiškės, etc.
Following the merger of the Mint and the State Securities Publishing Company by Government decree of 31 May 1991, a State Trademark Enterprise with a specific purpose was established. The new institution was intended to hide the production of money and to mislead the secret and force structures of the USSR. This institution not only handled all matters related to the organisation of the mint, production of circulation coins, but also took care of the creation and publishing of food talonas, general talonas, temporary monetary marks, lottery tickets, state toll marks, securities (cheques, shares, bills of exchange, etc.), various documents needing special protection (certificates, licences, rights, trade forms, certificates, etc.). When the Soviet Union began to break down and Lithuania became a recognised country in the world, it was no longer necessary to hide the mint under the name of the State Trademark Enterprise.
The Government had assigned to the State Trademark Enterprise the task of starting minting fine coins no later than March–April 1992. The Bank of Lithuania rushed to submit a request to mint 140 million pieces of 1, 2, and 5 centas coins. However, the search for suitable buildings or plots took time. It was planned to build a completely new building where a new merged company could be established. The plot for a new mint in Viršuliškės, next to the Press House, was negotiated with Vilnius Municipality. However, with the start of the design, it turned out that such construction would take five years and cost too much.
Finally, after long searches, in consultation with foreign experts, the garage complex belonging to the Supreme Council, located at Eigulių Street, was selected. It was convenient to get there, and a railway branch to the thermal power plant was built nearby. Design and refurbishment of premises started. However, everything went slower than planned. As mentioned above, due to the lengthy work, the first coins were minted in England. Equipment for the Lithuanian Mint was also purchased from it. For £60 thousand, two used, but in good condition and fully ready-to-use, minting presses, along with preform feeding systems, were purchased. The maximum speed of the minting presses was 300 strokes per minute, each of which was able to mint up to 110 thousand coins in eight hours under an experienced and professional minter. Viktoras Miltakis remembers that in preparation for the coin minting, with the mediation of Prime Minister G. Vagnorius, in exchange for beef from Ukraine, they received 1.2 m wide aluminium tin rolls. A total of 250 tons of metal was received. When ordering the tin, it was requested to provide it in strips 40 cm wide. The plan was to cut the tin with scissors held by the nearby Vilnius power welding equipment plant. Unfortunately, the conditions of the order were not met, so cutting 120 cm tin rolls into strips and making it into coin blanks became a challenge. Special roll shears were designed and manufactured at the above-mentioned plant — the tin rolls were cut into narrow strips. Wrapped on specially made coils, the tapes were transported to the Vilnius electricity meter factory in Užupis, which was the only one with a Japanese production press capable of cutting out the required diameter blanks for 1, 2, and 5 centas coins. A total of 500 thousand coins of each denomination were produced. When cutting the blanks from aluminium alloy strips, up to 30% of the raw material inevitably turned into waste, and the waste could be sold only as non-ferrous metal scrap.
After the specialists of the Birmingham Mint helped install the received equipment, on 30 September 1992 the Lithuanian Mint started minting Lithuanian circulation 1, 2, and 5 centas aluminium alloy coins. The Mint was officially opened on 2 October 1992 by Vytautas Landsbergis, Chair of the Supreme Council-Reconstituent Seimas. At 12:05 AM, he pressed the button of the minting machine and minted the first 5 centas coins. In his speech, he stressed: “The minting of our own money has immense meaning. Money is one of the last missing attributes and means of existence of our independent state. We have our money again. We'll still have to get rid of foreign soldiers. Then the state reconstruction phase will be completed. And it will have to be approved.”
By 1 December, the mint minted 1.5 million coins (500 thousand each of 1, 2, and 5 centas). Later, a newer, more modern press was purchased from Germany. Prior to the introduction of the litas, according to the order for coin production submitted by the Bank of Lithuania on 16 April 1993, the Lithuanian Mint had to produce 65 million units of 1, 2, and 5 centas coins in 1993 (25 million — 1 centas, 20 million — 2 centas, and 20 million — 5 centas). Later the production order was modified, and the plan was 8 million, 19 million, and 18 million units respectively.
The 10, 20, and 50 centas coins produced at the Birmingham Mint were sufficient to introduce the litas, but some of them were expected to be in the hands of collectors. Therefore, it was proposed to order a small quantity of blank coins of these denominations and to mint an additional volume of coins at the Lithuanian Mint. The cheapest 10, 20, and 50 centas coins were offered for sale by the Birmingham Mint. It was also proposed to sign the contract for the purpose of “maintaining good historical relations that would help the Lithuanian Mint to operate the presses purchased from them.” Although the contest was organised by the Lithuanian Mint, the contract with the Birmingham Mint for the acquisition of 40 million pieces of the above-mentioned blanks (10 centas — 10 million units, 20 centas — 10 million units, 50 centas — 20 million units) was signed by the Bank of Lithuania, where the consignment of blanks was stored and received. The idea for the Bank of Lithuania itself to buy and store the blanks was not well thought out, it made cooperation between institutions more difficult, and caused additional inconveniences. The first 1, 2, and 5 centas coins were handed over to the Bank of Lithuania on 2 June 1993.
