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SWEDEN'S NEW COINS

CURRENCY

Sweden unveils new ‘themed’ coin designs

The new designs for three Swedish coins, including the introduction of a 2-kronor coin, were unveiled by the Riksbank on Tuesday, with the coins set to hit circulation in 2016.

Published: 11 September 2012 11:51 CEST
Sweden unveils new 'themed' coin designs

The General Council of the Riksbank decided that Ernst Nordin’s design proposal “Sun, wind and water” would form the artistic basis for the production of the new coins.

“The proposal constitutes a highly cohesive coin series in which every coin is also distinctive. The design is of high artistic quality with a distinct graphical character,” wrote the Riksbank in a statement.

Click here for a better look at Sweden’s new coin designs

“The symbols on the coins are of an exemplary design. The theme ‘Sun, wind and water’ is an appropriate and apt theme that complements the main theme of the series ‘Sweden’s head of state’.”

The one-krona coin features the head of King Gustav XVI with what the Riksbank describes as a “stylized solar corona” on the reverse side.

The new two-kronor coin features the King and a “stylized whirlwind” and the five-kronor coin with the king and “stylized waves”.

Both the five and one kronor coins are lighter in weight than the current examples in circulation.

The two-kronor coin does not currently exist in Swedish currency, with the Riksbank not having released such a coin since 1971.

The aim of a re-introduction is to “allow transport and purchasing costs to be cut and the environmental impact of manufacture and handling to be reduced.”

Furthermore, the coin is planned to reduce the need for the one-krona and to make the typical Swedish wallet lighter.

The coins will be released into circulation on October 2016.

The unveiling of the new coin designs comes several months after the Riksbank introduced a new designs for new banknotes in April this year.

The new bills, which are scheduled to be issued in 2015, feature the likes of Greta Garbo, Ingmar Bergman, Astrid Lindgren, and other cultural giants of the 20th century.

The Local/og

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CURRENCY

Spanish town brings back the peseta in bid to boost spending

They haven't been legal currency in Spain since 2002 but residents in one town in Valencia can now spend any old pesetas they have hidden away thanks to a scheme aimed at boosting spending during the coronavirus crisis.

Published: 28 October 2020 14:12 CET
Spanish town brings back the peseta in bid to boost spending
Old peseta notes and coins can be exchanged until the end of 2020. Photo: AFP

The Multipaterna Commerce and Services Association has launched a campaign that allows payment to be made with pesetas in certain establishments in Paterna, a town in the Valencian Community.

The campaign, which includes hardware stores, opticians, computer and electronics stores, real estate, florists, lingerie stores and parcel kiosks, will run until December 15th. 

For the rest of Spain those who still have the old currency there is still a few months left to convert them into euros, although they can’t spend them in shops.

Spaniards have been told that they have until December 31st 2020  to exchange their pesetas for euros and that applies for both bank notes and coins.

Any notes produced during the Franco era, which ran from the end of the Civil War in 1939 until the dictator's death in 1975 can be automatically changed by the Bank of Spain.

Those issued during the conflict can also be exchanged but the process will involve them being analysed by experts to confirm their authenticity.

And any coins still in circulation at the time that euros were brought in on New Year's Day in 2002 can also be exchanged at Bank of Spain headquarters in Madrid.

The exchange rate offered  by the Bank of Spain is 1 euro = 166,386 pesetas but the bank advised that commemorative coins and notes may be worth more as collectors' items than for their face value, which is all that will be offered in the exchange scheme.

The Bank of Spain estimates that pesetas worth some €1.61 billion are squirreled away in Spanish homes, cluttering up the drawers of old desks and trunks in dusty old attics.

Many will never see the light of the day and others have become collectors' items now worth more than their exchangeable value.

Spain adopted the Euro at the start of 2002 but pesetas were still legal currency during a transition period that lasted the first three months of that year.

Exchanges can be made in person at the Banco España building on Madrid's Calle Alcala or via a postal or online service, even available to those abroad.  For more information check out the official webpage of the Banco España HERE. 

By Conor Patrick Faulkner in Valencia

 

 

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