San Marino

Mintmarks
Circulating Coins

R - Rome
Lira: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 5000, 10000

On January 1, 1999, the European Monetary Union introduced the euro as a common currency to be used by the financial institutions of member countries; Three years later, on 1 January 2002, the euro became the sole currency for everyday transactions with the member countries and San Marino replaced its national currency.

As the world looks to the third millennium A.D., the coins of San Marino reflect a pursuit of the history of thought and the achievements of mankind. The themes of 1997's issues celebrate the arts and human communications.

The motif of the 1 lira is an example of the oldest forms of artistic expression, showing a deer adapted from a 15.000-year-old carving discovered in 1879 in the rocks of the Altamura Caves in Spain.
Literature, theme of 2 lire, is represented by an image of one of the greatest poems of all times, Dante Alighieri, and his Divine Comedy, as conveyed by Comenico di Francesco, il Michelino, in his painting in the Florence Cathedral.
On the 5 lire is a representation of Hamlet's soliloquy before the skull of Yorick, commemorating the Theatre through one of the greatest dramatists of all times, William Shakespeare, and his most emblematic work.
A reconstruction of perhaps the most important monument of Ancient Hellas, the statue of Zeus at Olympia, symbolizes architecture on the 10 lire.
In sharp contrast, the 20 lire represents the Cinema, the youngest of the artistic disciplines (even if it is 100 years old) with a strip of film bearing images of the Charlie Chaplin classic Modern Times
A giant leap across thousands of miles takes to Sculpture on the 50 lire, and a work from the Chinese Han Dynasty in the 2nd century A.D., featuring a running horse.
In the classical European tradition is the "pas de deux" representing Dance on the 100 lire.
A painting that represents Painting is the unusual subject of the 200 lire, featuring a detail modified from The Artist's Studio by grand master Jan Vermeer.
Music is featured in classical fashion on the 500 lire, with a woman playing the pipes as she appears on the vase painted by the Hellenic, Karneia, in Southern Italy around 400 B.C.
And the silver 1,000 lire portrays art as a means of interplanetary communication, symbolized by a detail from the plaque attached to the American space probe Pioneer 10.

For further information, about gold, silver and divisional sets of coins of the Republic of San Marino, please contact: Azienda Autonoma Di Stata Filatelica Numismatica, P.O.Box 1, San Marino, 47031 Republic of San Marino, telephone +378 882365, Fax +378 882363. Service, 10001 Aerospace Road, Lanham, MD 20706, Telephone 202-283-2646