Although the Money Museum is currently closed to visitors just like all the other museums in Lithuania, we really miss our visitors and we even added new exhibits. Of course, the space that we have available is limited, therefore, we replaced collector coins of older issues with newer and more relevant ones at the Contemporary Money Hall.
The first new exhibit is the series of four collector coins dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Lithuania’s Independence issued in 2018. This series features a gold coin dedicated to the Signatories (50 euro) and three silver coins dedicated to Diplomacy (5 euro), to Armed Forces and Militarised Organisations (10 euro) and to the Legal System (20 euro).
The series consists of three silver coins shaped as rings with the gold one in the middle, depicting the facsimile signatures of the 20 signatories to the Act of Independence of Lithuania. It is one of the most unique coin designs created in recent years. The author of this design is artist Liudas Parulskis.
By the way, this coin series emerged victorious as the Most Innovative Coin at the 37th Coin of the Year awards in Berlin, conducted by Krause Publications, a US publisher of numismatic catalogues.
Another coin that also has a really unique design is a 10-euro silver coin dedicated to Gender Equality issued in 2019. It is the first collector coin to consist of two parts. The obverse of the two parts features two ice discs floating in a river separated by a narrow water gap. Shaped by the cold and frost, ice always takes different forms - it replicates the variety of existing approaches to men and women as well as their rights. The proclaimed gender equality is only formal and has not yet been fully achieved. The reverse features water ripples combining both parts of the coin into a single composition as well as the symbols of Venus and Mars, expressing the harmony and understanding between the genders. The coin was designed by artist Antanas Pocevičius.
Another coin now featured at the exhibition is very relevant nowadays. The summer of 2020 saw the release of a special 5-euro silver coin dedicated to Hope, commemorating the unity and solidarity of people in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. One side of the coin depicts a ray of light illuminating the year 2020 which is the main symbol of the coin dedicated to Hope. The shadows stretching from the numbers of the date form the international distress signal SOS. The minimalistic obverse of the coin features a pointer arrow of a measuring instrument, having reached its critical limit. This limit is marked in red on the 5-euro silver coin. The edge of the coin features a text in Latin and Lithuanian: Post tenebras spero lucem - Po tamsybių viliuosi šviesos (“After darkness, I hope for light” in English).
The coin was designed by artist Marija Marcelionytė-Paliukė.
The Bank of Lithuania has recently conducted a poll to determine the most beautiful coin from the series “Lithuanian Nature”. The largest number of votes were cast for the 10-euro silver coin dedicated to Tree Beekeeping issued in 2020.
The reverse of the coin depicts an old Lithuanian beekeeping tradition of harvesting honey from pine tree hollows. Having climbed into a tree using rope, a beekeeper, his head shielded with a beekeeping veil, is harvesting honey next to a swarm of bees.
The obverse of the coin features a swarm of bees forming a stylised Vytis silhouette and a honeycomb full of honey which is in colour on the silver coin. The edge of the coin features stylised images of bees.
The coin’s design was created by Vytautas Narutis.
The crown jewel of new exhibits is the most unique coin. It is unique because it is currently the only such coin in the world. It is the world’s first digital collector coin created by using blockchain technology - LBCOIN. In the summer of last year, the Bank of Lithuania issued 24 thousand digital collector tokens created by employing blockchain technology. Each token features one of the 20 signatories of the Act of Independence and collectors have a chance to try and collect all 20 of these tokens. The tokens are grouped into six categories based on the signatories’ areas of activity, which means there are 4 thousand tokens allotted to each category.
Of course, our exhibition features a physical collector coin which is part of LBCOIN, not the tokens themselves. The coin bears an unconventional denomination of €19.18 in order to commemorate this important date in Lithuania’s history. In size and form, the silver coin resembles a credit card and features the Act of Independence and its signatories.
The physical coin and digital tokens were designed by artist Giedrius Paulauskis.
This is a rare opportunity to see this coin in person.
Granted, we all need to have a little more patience in order to actually do it in person, but we are sincerely hoping to be able to see you all soon at the Money Museum!
