To mark the tenth anniversary since restoration of Latvia's national currency, the lat, the Bank of Latvia has released a new one-lat coin featuring an ant on the reverse side. There will therefore now be three one-lat coins in circulation, the other two depicting a salmon and a stork respectively, Bank of Latvia Press Secretary Edzus Vejins told LETA.
The new one-lat coin was struck by Finland's "Rahapaja Oy". Its graphic design was created by Maris Putns, Artis Zvirgzdins, Davids Rubins and Ligita Franckevica.
The diameter of the coin is 21.75 millimetres, and it weighs 4.8 grams. The obverse includes the full coat of arms of Latvia, with the year 2003 inscribed below. The inscriptions LATVIJAS and REPUBLIKA, each arranged in a semicircle, are above and beneath the central motif respectively. An ant is featured on the reverse of the coin, beneath which is the numeral 1, with the inscription LATS in a semicircle under the number. The edge is inscribed with the words LATVIJAS BANKA (Bank of Latvia), separated by rhombic dots.
As with the stork 1-lat piece, this coin is a single-issue special release. Overall 250 000 such one-lat coins have been struck.
"Since ancient times, Latvians have seen ants as a symbol of diligence and industriousness," said Vejins.
6000 species of ants have been found on the planet, and Latvia is home to only 42 of them. The redwood ant (Formica Rufa) is the most common ant in Latvia - these ants use needles and twigs to make ant-hills up to 1.5 metres in diameter and 1 metre in height. This is the ant featured on the new coin.
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