The Central Bank of Armenia has issue three collector coins: Khrimyan Hayrik-200 (silver), Jansem-100 (silver), Jansem-100 (gold).
Khrimyan Hayrik-200
Mkrtich I Vanetsi Khrimyan (Khrimyan Hayrik, 1820-1907) is a public, political and cultural figure, Catholicos of All Armenians since 1893.
He received informal education at parochial schools on Lim and Ktuts islands in Lake Van (Vaspourakan Province, Western Armenia). He founded Armenian periodicals “Artsvi Vaspourakan” (1855) and “Artsvik Tarono” (1863), and established Zharangavorats schools (schools for clergymen) at Varagavanq Monastery and St. Karapet Monastery of Moush. In 1854 Khrimyan became a celibate priest (vardapet) and in 1868 he was consecrated as bishop.
He appealed to the authorities of a number of European countries to settle the Armenian Issue diplomatically. In 1878 he headed the Armenian delegation at the Congress of Berlin. He supported the creation and operation of “Black Cross” and “Protector of Homeland”, underground organizations in Van and Karin, respectively, fighting for national liberation, for which he was exiled to Jerusalem. As the Catholicos of All Armenians, he continued his national liberation activities.
He authored books that tackled religious, philosophical, poetic and other relevant topics, by which he expressed the emotions and suffering of the people.
Obverse: the building of the Khrimyan Museum-gallery, a rosace, a fragment from the “Metal scoop” spring – monument (author – Areg Israyelyan), a behest by Khrimyan Hayrik and his signature.
Reverse: a portrait of Khrimyan Hayrik.
Designed by Eduard Kurghinyan.
Jansem-100 (silver)
Jansem (Hovhannes Semerdjian, 1920-2013) is a French-Armenian painter, a Foreign Member of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia.
In 1922 Jansem emigrated with his family from Turkey to Thessaloniki and then to Paris. He studied at Montparnasse Free Academy, and in 1939 graduated from the Paris High School of Decorative Arts.
Jansem created dozens of artworks with national motifs, thematic groups of paintings and portraits. His distinctive works are realistic and penetrated with humaneness. Expressive light colors in combination with sensual drawing make faces and movements of the represented figures more impressive and help to go insight into the aura of painting.
Jansem was honored with a number of international and state awards, including Order of St. Mesrop Mashtots (2002) and Order of the French Legion of Honor (2003), Order of Honor of the Republic of Armenia (2010).
Jansem’s works are exhibited in many countries of the world. Many paintings are exposed in the National Gallery of Armenia, and the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute exhibits the famous “Genocide” (1998-2001) group of paintings.
Obverse: a fragment from the “Poppies” (1982) painting.
Reverse: a portrait of Jansem and a fragment from the “Woman in yellow” (1968) painting.
Designed by Lusine Lalayan.
Jansem-100 (gold)
Obverse: a fragment from the “Woman with Masks” (1978) painting.
Reverse: a portrait of Jansem.
Designed by Eduard Kurghinyan.
Notice
Collector coins are made of precious metals and are issued to present to the society the national, international, historical and cultural, spiritual and other values of the country, to immortalize these values in the metal and to meet the demands of the numismatic market.
Like any other currency the collector coins have face value which makes them the means of payment. However, the face value of these coins is much lower that their cost price which includes the cost of the precious metal used for manufacturing of the coin, mintage and other expenses.
Low face value and high cost price allow these coins to be considered as the items of collection and not the means of payment used in money circulation. The collector coins have also the sale price set by the Central Bank of Armenia.
As the items of collection the collector coins are issued in very restricted quantities and are not reissued.
Numismatists, collectors and all interested persons can buy the Armenian collector coins in the sales salon “Numismatist” which is in the building of the Central Bank of Armenia and is open for everyone.
