SANTIMS: COIN OF LATVIA
10 santimu, 1922: Republic of Latvia
10 SANTIMU: 10 santims.
Wheatear; below is the micro-inscription R. ZARRINS (the design of the coin was developed by Latvian graphic artist and engraver Rihards Zariņš).
LATVIJA: Latvia.
Coat of arms of Latvia: the three stars above the shield represent three historical regions of Latvia: Vidzeme (Swedish Livonia), Latgale (Latgalia or Polish Livonia) and Kurzeme (Courland); the sun represents freedom, the lion — Courland, the griffin — Vidzeme and Latgalia.
Micro-inscription under the coat of arms in Latvian HUGUENIN (Swiss firm Haguenin le Locle, which produced the coins).
Huguenin Mint (artistic minting company from Switzerland).
Mintage: 15.000.000.
- Nickel: 19 mm - 2.96 g
- Reference price: 1.5$
COIN SANTIMS — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- REPUBLIC OF LATVIA (1922-2009): santims = 1/100 lats
SANTIMS (plural: santimi [2 or 5] / santimu [10, 20 or 50]) as coin name.
Santims of Latvia were introduced twice in the history of this Baltic state: in the interwar period (1922-1939) and in 1992-2009, it was the exchange coin of Latvian lats (before the introduction of the euro).
The name of this coin has the most widespread etymology: by analogy with a wide range of other similar coins (for example: cent, centavo, centesimo, centésimo, centime, cèntim, santim, sent, sente, cêntimo, céntimo, séntimo...) the name "santims" also indicates the coin is equal to 1/100th (from the Latin term "centesimus", which translates as "hundredth") of the larger amount.
In this case, we are talking about the equality of 100 santims to 1 lats.
