Finland

Finland was a province and then a grand duchy under Sweden from the 12th to the 19th centuries and an autonomous grand duchy of Russia after 1809. It won its complete independence in 1917. During World War II, it was able to successfully defend its freedom and resist invasions by the Soviet Union - albeit with some loss of territory. In the subsequent half century, the Finns made a remarkable transformation from a farm/forest economy to a diversified modern industrial economy; per capita income is now on par with Western Europe. As a member of the European Union, Finland was the only Nordic state to join the euro system at its initiation in January 1999.

One of the euro's most ardent supporters, Finland shrugged aside the reluctance of its Nordic neighbours Denmark and Sweden and signed up for the euro in 1998, three years after it joined the EU. Finland's economy has performed well since the country joined the EU. It has received financial help for its poorer, sparsely-populated regions in the north and east of the country. And the euro provided it with some much needed insulation from the Russian financial crisis of 1998.

Mint of Finland

The desicion to establish the Mint of Finland was made in the year 1860. The first Managing Director was August Fredrik Soldan and production started in the autumn of 1864 at Katajannokka, Helsinki. The first production lot comprised 30,000 one-penny coins for the Bank of Finland. In 1951, the Mint struck the first Finnish collector coin and the world's first modern Olympic coin in honour of the Helsinki Olympics. Its nominal value was 500 marks and sriking continued until the end of the following year, bringing the total up to 605,000 coins. In 1960, Finland celebrated the centennial of the mark. A total of 201,000 pieces of the second collector coin, a silver 1,000 mark coin, were struck. The coin was designed by Toivo Jaatinen. Collector coin production in the foreign markets grew significantly in the 1960s. Domestically, the initiatives for striking collector coins also increased continuously and, as a result, collector coins were struck almost every year in the next decade.

In the 1990s, Mint of Finland Ltd, which is owned by the Ministry of Finance, changed its company form from a State office to an incorporated company in 1993. This has provided wider business opportunities and made international commerce possible. Exports today go to nearly 40 countries and the mint may be considered as one of the highest-class and most respected mints in the world. As proof of this, Mint of Finland was chosen to one of the six "Eurocentres", where vending machine manufactures are able to test the euro readiness of their equipment by using coins manufactured in different countries. Mint of Finland has also several times been awarded in the international "Coin of the Year" competition.

For further information, contact the Mint of Finland Ltd, P.O. Box 100 (Turvalaaksontie 1), FIN-01741 VANTAA, Finland, Tel: +358 9 8943 1, Fax: +358 9 898 274, Email: info@mint.fi, Web: http://www.mint.fi/