Designer: Pertti Mäkinen
Ag 925, 38.6mm, 27g
Mintage BU 40,000 - PROOF 40,000

Obverse: Quill and signature represents his work as a writer.
Reverse: A woven poem-band represents his work in weaving together the Kalevala.
Edge: Plain

Commemorates 200 years since the birth of Elias Lönnrot (1802-1884). He was a medicinal researcher, poet, and writer. He travelled extensively through eastern Finland collecting the oral poems of locals. He synthesized these and embelished them to create the National Epic: Kalevala. His work came during the critical period of a national Finnish awakening. The Kalevala would go on to inspire architects, painters, composers, etc. to create works (in a style dubbed National-Romanticism) that bolstered the identity of an independent Finnish heritage in the face of a program of Russification prior to independence.
He also has appeared on the 500 markkaa banknote (1986-2001 series).

I have both of these coins as well (BU and Proof) and see their mintage is identical so again I must ask how their value compares today? I think this is somewhat rare to see mintages for both the BU and Proof coins the same.