I'm back with another coin! Georgia being a more challenging country, I decided to pick up a "placeholder" coin. What makes it a placeholder? Well the goal is all silver and this is a base metal (copper nickel) example. I'm still searching for another but I couldn't pass up a cool looking coin that wasn't too expensive and came from a seller in the US (most require help from international sellers). The obverse features an eagle and lion from the 11th century Svetitskhoveli Cathedral (which are symbols of state strength). The text says "3000th Anniversary of Georgian Statehood." The reverse has the denomination (10) with the inscription "Lari" in Georgian. The words read: "National Bank of Georgia - 2000." Another interesting component is that the edge has "Ten Lari" and "Georgia" written in English. Country Georgia Denomination 10 Lari Year 2000 Subject 3000th Anniversary of the Georgian State System Composition Cupro-Nickel Weight (gr) 28.28 Diameter (mm) 38.61 Mintage 2,000 Mint Royal Mint (UK)
Definitely an interesting motif. Not sure how they came up with 3000 years of Georgian statehood. It seems a bit of a stretch… They do have quite a longer history than many other countries. I remember visiting a church (Mtskheta) dating back to the 7th or 8th century if I remember correctly. I like the fact that the mintage is lower even than the number of years for which they are claiming statehood.
There is a long history but I also could not find something that explains why it was 3000 years in 2000. And it is interesting that the mintage is lower than the number of years (someone missed a marketing opportunity ).
Don’t forget china has “5,000” years of history. What a joke. Many older countries like to claim absurd numbers.
Cool coin. I had never seen Georgian script and am struck by the similarity of some of the letters to Thai. "3000th Anniversary of the Georgian State System"? They must be referring to the Colchis or Iberia but I'm not finding anything specific. The "consolidation of Colchian tribes" was in the 13th century BCE so that's sort of close. The kingdom of Iberia dates to ~300 BCE. Where did they come up with 3000th anniversary?