14 euro – Estonian farming couple

On 6 June Eesti Pank will release a silver collector coin that is dedicated to the Estonian farming couple, who symbolise the most important and most typical social archetype in the history of the Estonian state, and are intertwined with the quest for independence and sovereignty. “Independent smallholding farming families have had an extraordinarily important position in Estonian history. Such a status gave people a high position in the hierarchy of local society. Estonian farms started to be bought outright on a large scale in the middle of the 19th century, and the farming family became one of Estonian society’s driving economic and social forces”, observed Raul Rebane, who is a member of the panel that assesses proposals for collector and commemorative coins at the central bank. The silver coin dedicated to the Estonian farming couple was designed by Riho Luuse, who has earlier designed other collector coins for Eesti Pank. “In the centre of the coin there is a farming couple, who ran the farm, made the decisions, owned it and took responsibility for it. They are encircled by a swirl of farm buildings, domesticated animals, a creaking garden gate, and a well with a well pole. All of them are linked by an unbroken thread. The farm is family, home, work, love, and a way of thinking, and the independent Estonian farm was the foundation of the independent Estonian state”, he explained. The obverse side of the coin shows the coat of arms of the Republic of Estonia, a pair of barn swallows and the year 2023. The proof quality silver (Ag 925) collector coin weighs 28.28 grams and is 38.61 mm in diameter, and 4000 of the coins have been minted. The coin has a nominal value of 14 euros and sells for 54 euros and was minted by the Lithuanian mint.