2009-12-08
The Bank of Lithuania issued into circulation the 50 litas collectors silver coin dedicated to Lithuanian nature today.
The new coin features a very beautiful Silene lithuanica. It has been chosen under proposals from naturalists and given that it is probably the only plant bearing the name of Lithuania in its name, Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania, Reinoldijus Sarkinas said.
The Bank of Lithuania gave a coin featuring Silene lithuanica as a gift to the Botanical Garden of Vilnius University in Kairenai, where presentation of the new coin took place.
The collection of plants grown in this Botanical Garden includes over 10,000 species. Botanists have calculated that nearly half of Lithuania
's ligneous plants and about one-third of graminaceous plants grow per se there. Silene lithuanica depicted on the coin grows in southern Lithuania, Dzukija region.
Silene lithuanica has been included in the Red Data Book of Lithuania. The species is not only a talisman of the plant world, but of entire Lithuania as well: we can be proud of it and of its name, thinks Selemonas Paltanavicius, the author of the booklet for this coin, a famous naturalist and writer.
The Rector of Vilnius University, Benediktas Juodka, botanical scientists working with this institution of science and studies participated in the event.
This is already the 61st collectors (commemorative) coin issued by the Bank of Lithuania.
The 50 litas coin featuring Silene lithuanica has been struck from silver Ag 925, quality proof (mirror surface, mat relief), diameter 38.61 mm, weight 28.28 g. On the edge of the coin: LIETUVOS GAMTA (twice), insertions - images of Silene lithuanica. The author of the coin's graphic design and plaster model is Giedrius Paulauskis. The mintage of the coin is 10,000 pieces. The coins were minted at the UAB Lithuanian Mint.