Azerbaijan to release new commemorative coins
By Aynur Jafarova
Azerbaijan is planning to release new silver and gold commemorative coins dedicated to the 20th anniversary of signing of the Contract of the Century, launching of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and the 90th anniversary of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.
In this regard, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) announced a competition on designing these commemorative coins, CBA said on October 28.
The sketch designs should be delivered to CBA by November 15, 2014. The winners will be selected by a jury and awarded with a prize of 500 manats.
CBA is a supreme emission agency that pursues the state policy in the sphere of credit, money turnover, settlements and foreign exchange relations, regulates the overall activity of the banking system as a whole and fulfills the duties of reserve bank functions.
CBA released the first gold coin of 100 manat and the silver coin of 50 manat dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the life and activities of the notable poet and thinker Mahammad Fuzuli (1494-1556) in 1996.
The face of the coin reflects the image of Mahammad Fuzuli, and its back is a scene from a famous poem by the poet 'Leyli and Majnun'. The commemorative coins were minted in the Royal Mint of Great Britain.
The gold coin of 100 manat and the silver coin of 50 manat dedicated to the 1300th anniversary of 'Kitabi-Dede Gorgud' epos was first circulated in 1999.
The commemorative coins were minted in the Mint of the National Bank of Ukraine.
CBA also issued platinum, gold and silver commemorative coins into circulation on December 10, 2004 under a presidential decree on perpetuating the memory of Heydar Aliyev, the national leader of Azerbaijan.
The face of the coin depicts a portrait of the national leader; the words 'Heydar Aliyev' are depicted on the right side of the portrait, the back presents the map of Azerbaijan and the words 'The independence of Azerbaijan is permanent, eternal, irreversible...'
The issue date of the commemorative coins '2004' is presented under the map on the back side of the coin, the words 'The Republic of Azerbaijan' are depicted around the map on the top in a circular form, and the bottom presents the nominal of the commemorative coins.
Also, CBA concluded an agreement with Austrian Mint in 2006 to release a gold set of new gapiks due to denomination.
Some 50 pieces of a special gold commemorative set and 50 pieces of special gold commemorative batch were produced under the agreement in 2005.
The silver coins with the face value of 50 manat dedicated to the World Cup held in Germany in 2006 were released in Polish Mint and issued into circulation.
CBA ordered gold coins with the face value of 100 manat with Austria Mint Co and issued them into circulation in 2008 due to countrywide celebration of the 85th anniversary of Heydar Aliyev.
Later, CBA released the gold commemorative coins with the face value of 100 manat dedicated to the memory of genius poet and thinker of Azerbaijan, Nizami Ganjavi, genius opera singer, vocalist Bulbul and genius composer Uzeir Hajibeyov in 2008 within culture series, as well as the commemorative coins dedicated to the 85th anniversary of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, the 135th anniversary of the National Press, the 20th anniversary of restoration of the state independence of Azerbaijan, and the 20th anniversary of establishment of CBA.