2016-08-30 Tue

On 29th August, Finland issued the first coin of the 2016-dated Christmas Mint Set featuring the beautiful Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis. This natural phenomenon is mostly observed at the northernmost hemisphere or the southern polar region. It is often been mentioned in several folklore and tales of heroism from these regions.

Collisions between gaseous particles in the earth’s atmosphere and charged particles from the sun’s atmosphere cause this phenomenon. They appear in mostly green colour and sometimes in other colours like red, yellow, green, blue, and violet. They are mostly spotted in the northwestern parts of Canada like Yukon, Nunavut and other countries like Alaska, Lapland areas of Norway, Sweden and Finland. They are generally spotted in winters from 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.

The medal depicts the Aurora Borealis against a cliffside of snowy and rocky terrain. The reverse features the year of issue minted using a hidden relief application and the twelve stars of the EU. The medal weighs 8 grams, its mintage limit is 3000 sets and are packaged in a colourful presentation folder. The sale would begin from 12th September and the coins would be delivered from 29th September onward.