5 Euros Lapland

Finland's regional series, launched in 2005, assigned one commemorative five-euro coin to each of the country's historical provinces — Lapland being among the final issues in the run. These were never intended as circulating currency; sold directly to collectors at a premium, most examples went straight into albums, which accounts for the near-universal gem condition in which they appear on the market.

Lapland covers roughly a third of Finland's total land area but holds under four percent of its population — a demographic fact the Finnish government leaned on heavily in regional identity politics of the 2000s.