2 euro San Marino 2006, 500th Anniversary of the Death of Christopher Columbus






Sammarinese commemorative 2 euro coins - 5th centenary of Christopher Columbus’s death


Commemorative 2 euro coins from San Marino

Description: A portrait of Christopher Columbus (looking to the right) before a background of the three caravels (the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa María), which he used in his first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, forms the central part of the coin's design. At the top of the inner part is the inscription SAN MARINO together with a compass rose, in the centre is the mint mark R, and at the bottom is a cartouche containing the inscription 1506–2006 and the initials of the designer (LDS). The twelve stars of the European Union surround the design on the outer ring of the coin.



Reverse: left from the coin centre face value: 2, on the right inscription: EURO; in the background of the inscription a map of Europe; in the background of the map vertically six parallel lines ending on both sides with five-pointed stars (the reverse is common for all euro coins)

Issuing volume: 120,000 coins
Date of issue:  17 October 2006
Face value:       2 euro
Diameter:         25.75 mm
Thickness:       2.2 mm
Weight:            8.5 gr
Composition: Alloy (Nk/Ng), ring Cupro Nickel (75% copper - 25% nickel clad on nickel core), center Nickel brass (75% copper - 20% zinc - 5% nickel)
Design Credit: Luciana De Simoni is credited as the engraver for the Sammarinese 2006 €2 Euro Commemorative coin.
Designer / Engraver Inscriptions: 'LDS' Stylized initials of the engraver:
€2 Edge Inscription: The Sammarinese €2 coin edge inscription is '2', followed by one star, repeated six times alternately upright and inverted.
Mint Location: Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato (IPZS) (State Printing Office and Mint), in Rome, Italy.
Mint Marks: Mintmark of the Rome mint: the letter 'R'. Located to the right of the main design theme, inner circle.
National Identification: Text: 'SAN MARINO'

Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus (Italian: Cristoforo Colombo; Spanish: Cristóbal Colón; Portuguese: Cristóvão Colombo; (born between 31 October 1450 and 30 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italian explorer, navigator, and colonizer, born in the Republic of Genoa (Italy). Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents. Those voyages, and his efforts to establish permanent settlements on the island of Hispaniola, initiated the Spanish colonization of the New World.

In the context of emerging western imperialism and economic competition between European kingdoms seeking wealth through the establishment of trade routes and colonies, Columbus' speculative proposal, to reach the East Indies by sailing westward, eventually received the support of the Spanish crown, which saw in it a chance to gain the upper hand over rival powers in the contest for the lucrative spice trade with Asia. During his first voyage in 1492, instead of reaching Japan as he had intended, Columbus landed in the Bahamas archipelago, at a locale he named San Salvador. Over the course of three more voyages, Columbus visited the Greater and Lesser Antilles, as well as the Caribbean coast of Venezuela and Central America, claiming them for the Spanish Empire.

Though Columbus was not the first European explorer to reach the Americas (having been preceded by the Norse expedition led by Leif Ericson in the 11th century), Columbus' voyages led to the first lasting European contact with the Americas, inaugurating a period of European exploration, conquest, and colonization that lasted for several centuries. They had, therefore, an enormous impact in the historical development of the modern Western world. Columbus himself saw his accomplishments primarily in the light of spreading the Christian religion.

Never admitting that he had reached a continent previously unknown to Europeans, rather than the East Indies he had set out for, Columbus called the inhabitants of the lands he visited indios (Spanish for "Indians"). Columbus' strained relationship with the Spanish crown and its appointed colonial administrators in America led to his arrest and dismissal as governor of the settlements on the island of Hispaniola in 1500, and later to protracted litigation over the benefits which Columbus and his heirs claimed were owed to them by the crown.


San Marino 2 euro commemorative Coins