Obverse designer: Hannu Veijalainen
Reverse designer: Erkki Vainio
Ag 925, 38.6mm, 27.4g
Mintage BU 10,000 - PROOF 34,800

Obverse: Helsinki Olympic Stadium tower and coin commemorating the original event.
Reverse: The Olympic flame; the globe with coordinate lines and shape of Finland represents the event putting Finland "on the map" in the eyes of the world.
Edge: Plain


The 1952 Summer Olympic Games were very significant for Finland. The Games were originally scheduled to be held in 1940, and Finland had done much construction in preparation, but WWII had already begun. The first Games after WWII were given to London, but Helsinki was finally given its turn 4 years later. Not only was it a chance for sport-crazy Finns to showcase their abilities, but it also intimately highlighted a vibrant democratic Finland to the West in the early days of the Cold War.
And of course for the numismatic world, it brought us the first modern Olympic commemorative coin.

I have these in both the unc. and proof version. With the mintage of the unc.(BU) being so low I can not help but wonder if the value of the unc.(BU) is increasing faster than the proof? Just curious as here in the U.S. many BU coins are worth far more than the heavily bought and favored proof coins. Any thoughts on this?

See my reply here.

Nice coins. The Commemorative Euro program is certainly producing some beautiful coins.