Friday Free Finds - 4 - Finland and Estonia

TOP: Estonia 5 Euro Cents and 2 Euros

BOTTOM: Finland 5, 10, 20, 50, 50 Euro Cents and 1, 2 Euros

Ah yes, another post. Trying to keep you guys busy with some more additions to my collection.  These too were also free and donated to me by my fiancees father.  

Estonia:  The coins pictured at the top are from Estonia.  Not too sure why my fiancees father wasn't able to find the rest of the coins, but I think that he didn't have too much time to spend there, AND, since there are some many other Euro coins floating around in the Eurozone, it's likely that he tried his best, but these were the only two he could get.  Regardless, it's a very kind gesture for him to keep me in mind and to send these back with my fiancee from her visit back home in Bangkok, Thailand.  I don't have much to say about these Estonian coins, except that they are new.  Estonia is a recent addition to the Eurozone and replaced their former currency, the Sent and Kroon.  The obverse of the coin shows a map of Estonia.  The reverse is the common reverse found on all Euro coins.  These are great and the only two that I have for Estonian Euros.  I have 1 Estonian Kroon coin which was given to me by my father's friend back in the late 90's, but in general, my collection contains very few Estonian coins and currency.  If you'd like to donate, check out the information page where you will find my email and we can set something up!

These Estonian coins will be placed in my Euro coin collection and is a great addition to my collection!

Finland:  The coins pictured on the bottom are from Finland.  Finland is one of the original users of the Euro common currency.  Despite this, Finnish Euro coins are hard to come-by in the rest of  Euroland.  Seems to make sense due to the fact that Finland is a little more remote than the rest of the Euroland countries.  It is bordered by Sweden, Norway and Russia, all of whom are not users of the Euro common currency.  With this in mind, when I lived in France, I never found a Finnish Euro coin.  Maybe some like-minded numismatists plucked them out of circulation and added them to their collection (Touché to you!).  

I find these Finnish Euro's to be quite beautiful, especially the 1 and 2 Euro coins.  As you may notice, the 1 and 2 Euro Cent coins are missing.  The simple explanation is that they do not exist in Finnish circulation thanks to a system of rounding from their neighbor, Sweden; Swedish Rounding.  This form of rounding of Euro currency exists in The Netherlands and Finland.  It also exists in a number of other countries around the world, with the next to be... Canada!  Anyways, this is why you do not see the 1 and 2 cent coins, as they are only produced for collectors and not for general circulation!

Finally, you are probably wondering why I posted 2 Finnish 50 Euro Cent coins, right?  Some of you may already know, but for those that don't, the coins are actually different.  The 50 Cent piece on the left is the updated version of the map of the European community, while the one on the left represents the original European community.  Have a look! I believe that the change occurred in 2008 or 2009, but since then, the 10,20 and 50 cent coins all contain an updated European Community image. 

Enjoy!