Estonia has issued a circulating commemorative €2 coin to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the discovery of Antarctica.

The discovery is linked to Estonia because one of the first men to see Antarctica in 1820 was Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, naval commander of a Russian polar expedition, who documented the discovery. Of Baltic German descent, he was born in Saaremaa, Estonia.

The design depicts a motif of a sailing ship. It also bear the inscriptions FABIAN GOTTLIEB VON BELLINGSHAUSEN and ‘NTARKTIKA 200, the country name EESTI and the year of issuance 2020.

The coin has a mintage of 750,000 pieces.

The ringed-bimetallic coin has a copper-nickel core and copper-aluminum-nickel ring. The €2 coin weighs 8.5 grams and measures 25.75 millimeters in diameter.

The coin’s outer ring depicts the 12 stars of the European flag. The common reverse shows a map of the European Union.

Each nation is allowed to issue up to two different circulating commemorative designs annually, with designs of their choosing, though few nations issue the maximum number of designs.

Joint euro programs like the 2015 coins honoring the 30th anniversary of the flag of the European Union do not count toward this limit.

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