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5 Euros Smith forges in the sky
| Issuer | Bank of Latvia |
|---|---|
| Year | 2017 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Euros |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | At the centre of the obverse, a mounted rider clad in traditional Latvian ethnographic attire gallops through a dramatic sky, his right hand raised aloft brandishing an orb from which nine lightning bolts radiate in multiple directions. Swirling clouds and falling raindrops fill the field surrounding horse and rider, evoking the mythological imagery of the Latvian folk song. The legend KALĒJS KALA DEBESĪS, OGLES BIRA DAUGAVĀ. is arranged in a semicircular arc along the lower periphery of the coin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | KALĒJS KALA DEBESĪS, OGLES BIRA DAUGAVĀ. (Translation: Smith forges in the sky, the coals burst into the Daugava) |
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| Additional information |
Part of Latvia's ongoing numismatic program celebrating Latvian cultural heritage, this piece honors the blacksmith as a figure central to Baltic mythology — the smith-god Kalējs occupies a role in Latvian folk cosmology comparable to Vulcan or Hephaestus, forging celestial objects including the sun and stars. The Bank of Latvia has consistently used its collector coin program to document pre-Christian Latvian belief systems that survived centuries of German, Swedish, Polish, and Russian dominance in the region.
Struck at the Latvian Mint in Rīga, with a reported mintage of 5,000 pieces.