Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
500 Lei - Mihai I Bessarabia Reunion
| Issuer | Romania |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Silver (.835) |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Bare-headed effigy of King Mihai I as a young man facing left, rendered in high relief with finely detailed hair. The circular legend reads 'MIHAI REGELE ROMANILOR' separated by raised dots, arching around the upper field. The date '1941' appears in the lower field beneath the portrait, and the engraver's signature 'Ioana Bassarab' is incused along the lower right field. The portrait conveys a restrained, classical style characteristic of mid-20th century Romanian medallic art. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A crowned standing figure of Stephen the Great (Ștefan cel Mare), robed in medieval princely vestments and rendered in three-quarter relief at center, presenting a model of Putna Monastery with both hands as a votive offering. The denomination '500 LEI' appears in large raised numerals along the lower field, flanked by decorative stars. The circular legend 'MOLDOVA·LUI·STEFAN·IN·VECI·A·ROMANIEI' runs around the upper and lateral periphery, separated by raised dots, referencing the eternal union of Moldova with Romania. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Issued to commemorate the Romanian reoccupation of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina in the summer of 1941, following the joint German-Romanian offensive that drove Soviet forces from territories annexed by the USSR just one year earlier under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The coin's release was explicitly propagandistic, framing the military campaign as a reunification rather than a conquest — a distinction the Antonescu government pressed hard in domestic messaging.
Production coincided with Romania's formal entry into Operation Barbarossa as a co-belligerent. Circulated examples are scarce; most were saved as commemoratives from the outset.