Obverse. Photo © Monetnik.ru
  • 2 Euro 2020, Malta, Maltese Prehistoric Sites, Skorba Temples
  • 2 Euro 2020, Malta, Maltese Prehistoric Sites, Skorba Temples
Description

This coin is the fifth in a series of seven coins depicting Maltese prehistoric sites.

There are three types of this coin (obverse):
• without mint marks (in rolls)
• with the mint mark (Cornucopia) and director Yves Sampo's marks (Pentagon with letters AG) before and after year (UNC in coincard)
• with letter F in the star at 6 hours (annual set)

Obverse

Depicts a series of megalithic uprights of the Skorba Temples and a cycladic idol.

The Skorba temples are megalithic remains on the northern edge of Żebbiegħ, in Malta, which have provided detailed and informative insight into the earliest periods of Malta's neolithic culture. The site was only excavated in the early 1960s, rather late in comparison to other megalithic sites, some of which had been studied since the early 19th century.

The ancient Cycladic culture flourished in the islands of the Aegean Sea from c. 3300 to 1100 BCE. The best-known art of this period are the marble figures usually called "idols" or "figurines", though neither name is exactly accurate: the former term suggests a religious function which is by no means agreed on by experts, and the latter does not properly apply to the largest figures, which are nearly life size.

Engraver: Noel Galea Bason

SKORBA
TEMPLES
3600-2500 BC
NGB
MALTA
2020

Reverse

A geographical map of Western Europe spans the outer ring and inner core on the right side of the coin. The inscription 2 EURO is superimposed over the map of Europe, with the numeral “2” located in an open field representing the eastern Atlantic Ocean.

12 stars are located on the right side of the outer ring, with six stars atop the map of Europe and six stars below it; six vertical stripes cut across the inner core of the coin, visually connecting the upper and lower star segments.

Luc Luycx, a designer at the Royal Belgian Mint, designed the Euro’s common reverse; his initials, LL, are seen on the right side of the design, just under the “O” in “EURO.”

2 EURO
LL

Edge

The sequence "2✠✠" repeated six times alternately upright and inverted.

2 ✠✠ 2 ✠✠ 2 ✠✠ 2 ✠✠ 2 ✠✠ 2 ✠✠

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Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Circulating)
Material Bi-Metallic
Ring Cupronickel
Center Nickel Brass
Weight 8.5 g
Diameter 25.75 mm
Thickness 2.2 mm
Shape round
Alignment Medal
Mint
Paris Mint (F)

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