Designers: Aarre Aaltonen and Matti Visanti
Ag 500, 32mm, 12g
Mintage UNC 1951: 18,500 1952: 586,500
(26,000 later returned to mint and melted down)


OBVERSE: Olympic rings
REVERSE: Denomination surrounded by an oak wreath
EDGE: Kalevala motif of clasped hands

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.

Noteworthy items regarding this coin are 1)First modern Olympic commemorative 2)Only Finnish commemorative to have 2 different dates 3)Designed for circulation

A great coin. Were the issues of both years dated 1952?

No, the coins minted in 1951 do have that year on the coin. It is one of the few that I still need to make a complete set.

And thus the Finns started the Olympic commemorative coin craze. The next commem to come out was the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, I think it was a 100 yen commemorative in silver, I may have some somewhere.

So the 51 is quite difficult to find. Were all of the coins that were melted 52s?

They are more difficult to come by, but they do show up here at auction every now and then. And they are quite pricey too.

As to what years were melted, I do not know if that information was ever recorded.