Eurostar Logo for the European Silver Programme
Spain has issued it's annual contribution to the Eurostar Program, also known as the Europa Coin Programme or the European Silver Programme, this week with the release of 3 new coins.
The European Silver Programme is an initiative where European nations issue numismatic legal tender collectors coins in precious metals. The program is voluntary for any European nation to contribute to and has been running since 2004. Each year a single theme is announced, meant to celebrate the European identity. Each participating country can then design and issue their own coin based on the common theme. Countries who have participated in this initiative in the past include : France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Austria and Ireland amongst others.
The theme for 2016 is modernism. This is the first year of the “Ages of Europe” series, that will eventually include Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque in future years.
The coins all have a face value of 5 Euro and feature a self portrait of Almada Negreiros, considered one of the fathers of the Portuguese modernist movement, designed by sculptor Rui Vasquez. The reverse of the coins depict the Eurostar logo with the Portuguese national coat of arms at its center.
The first piece is a ½ oz(15.5 gram) .999 Fine gold coin with a milled edge. The 30mm proof quality coin is issued capsuled in a small display case.
The second coin is of proof quality .925 silver, with limited mintage of 7500 also measuring 30mm(135grams) with a milled edge. Similar to the gold coin, the silver proof is also released in a clear capsule within a small display case.
The final coin is a simple circulation quality cupronickel alloy 5 Euro legal tender coin with a mintage of 100 000 for general circulation.
At their release the Gold and Silver coins were available for €906.00 and €51.66 respectively.
