The design honours the Karelian tradition of birch bark crafts. Country name in Finnish and Swedish on the ring.

Birch bark or birchbark is the bark of several Eurasian and North American birch trees of the genus Betula. The strong and water-resistant cardboard-like bark can be easily cut, bent, and sewn, which has made it a valuable building, crafting, and writing material, since pre-historic times. Even today, birch bark remains a popular type of wood for various handicrafts and arts.

In Scandinavia and Finland, it was used as the substratum of sod roofs and birch-bark roofs, for making boxes, casks and buckets, fishing implements, and shoes (as used by the Egtved Girl) similar to bast shoes.

Depicts the historic coat of arms of Karelia, a region of Finland surrounded by the value and the date above. Engraver's initial (T) and the mint's logo (lion) on the right.

Karelia is a historical province of Finland that Finland partly ceded to the Soviet Union after the Winter War of 1939–40. The Finnish Karelians include the present-day inhabitants of North and South Karelia and the still-surviving evacuees from the ceded territories.

The coat of arms of Karelia in Finland were first used in 1562, although the arms were probably presented at the burial of Gustav Vasa in 1560. The blazon for the arms may be translated as follows: A golden crown above two duelling arms, the right guantleted arm holding a sword and the left mailed arm a scimitar, all silver except for golden hafts and gauntlet joint. Ducal coronet. The two hands holding a sword and a scimitar are generally seen as symbol of Karelia's position between the Swedish and Russian realms.