Designer: Tapio Kettunen
Ag 925, 38.6mm, 25.5g
Mintage BU 7,000 - PROOF 48,000

Obverse: Youthful portrait of Snellman
Reverse: Depicts the rising sun on the awakening of a Finnish nationality, in which Snellman played a significant role.
Edge: Plain

Commemorates 200 years since the birth of J.V. Snellman. He was a statesman, philosopher, and publisher. He was one of the main contributors in the awakening of a national Finnish identity under Russian rule. He helped to secure an official status for the Finnish language and under his tenure as Finance Minister, Finland received its own currency unit -the markka.

He was also the subject of Finland's 2nd ever commemorative coin in 1960 and has also appeared on numerous denominations of Finnish banknotes.

This coin is part of the Europa coin series for 2006 with the theme: Great Europeans, thus the eurostar logo.

You know I don't know why but I'm not a big fan of the Finnish Euro Commem designs. I like the pre-Euros much better for some reason.

Some have been okay and others have been weak. (I think the gold and base bi-metal commems have been better overall, with perhaps the exception of last year's silver issues.) My favorite "era" of Finn commems is between 1977 and 1990, with a special emphasis on the designs by Reijo Paavilainen.

That's a neat coin. I especially like the rev.

I like these designs. They make me think of space, calm, longing, opportunity. The same feeling I get when I look into the night sky.