Slovenia Euro Coins

Slovene euro coins, first issued for circulation on 1 January 2007, feature a unique design for each coin. The selection process for the coins started in April 2004, involving preliminary discussions with numismatists, designers and experts. The general public was also invited to participate in a public tender concerning proposals of motifs (132 tenderers proposed 699 motifs). A special expert commission (9 different individual experts and members of different institutions, including the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Slovenia) dealt with the proposals and the process. The Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted the final decision on 28 July 2005 to submit the selected design proposals for the national side of the Slovene euro coins to ECOFIN (Economic and Financial Committee).

The design of approximately 230 million Slovene euro coins (total value of approximately 80 million euro) was unveiled on 7 October 2005. The designers are Miljenko Licul, Maja Licul and Janez Boljka. The Mint of Finland was chosen to mint the coins through an international tender. Starting on 15 December 2006, euro starter kits containing Slovene euro coins could be purchased from all Slovene banks. The euro starter kit contained: 8 x 1 cent, 7 x 2 cent, 6 x 5 cent, 6 x 10 cent, 7 x 20 cent, 4 x 50 cent, 4 x 1 euro, 2 x 2 euro (total value 12.52 euro, or 3000.30 tolarjev).

The Slovene euro coins are the first to feature a new common side, with a new map of Europe on the bicoloured and Nordic-gold coins. The use of the Prince's Stone (Slovene Knezji kamen, German Furstenstein) on the 2 cents coin caused a minor political stir in the Austrian State of Carinthia. The stone, an ancient Roman column that was used in the ritual of installing the princes of Karantania and later of the Duchy of Carinthia, is kept in a museum in Klagenfurt, the Carinthian capital, where it is also considered a historical icon of the state. The Carinthian state government (headed by governor Jorg Haider) issued a resolution of protest on October 25, 2005, which was rejected as "not to be taken seriously" by the Slovene foreign minister Dimitrij Rupel.

The Slovene 2 euro coin edge inscription

Edge
SLOVENIA (in Slovene) followed by an engraved dot

Mintmarks on Slovene euro coins

2007	2008 - today
Fi Mercury's wand	Mercury's wand
Finnish Mint, Rahapaja Oy	Royal Dutch Mint in Utrecht