Hello,
all circulating 1992-2013 Latvian 1 lats coins are listed as "common" (noncommemorative) in Numista's catalog: Hedgehoog, Mushroom, Pretzel, Snowman, etc. But I think all of them are commemoratives except the first one (Salmon), aren't they?
Hm, that's an interesting question. Technically they are commemoratives, except that they don't really commemorate "much". Well, one can say they commemorate Latvian culture. But how is the first one different from the rest of them in this case? All I know that all of them circulated. Earlier ones more, later ones not as much as people were hoarding them into their mini-collections.
Now I am indeed puzzled. My belief that they were commemoratives was so firm, but on the website of the Latvia's bank no difference is mentioned: cf. the description of Lasis (Salmon) vs. the description of Čiekurs.
As far as I remember, bank always announced them as "special design" coins, not as "commemoratives". Because they really does not commemorate anything. Otherwise it is as smoked_caramel says. The intention always was that they circulated, for that they distributed them through banks and post offices in countryside, etc. But in fact people hoarded them and there was (are?) a lot of people not otherwise in numismatics, but hoarding only those special design lats. I heard that in countryside people got them and than sold to each other with high surcharge (which normal numismatist, knowing the market, would never pay). But yes, all of them was circulating and you could get one in change in shop, if were lucky enough.
Thank you for these interesting descriptions of Latvian rural life.
But then it seems that such 2 euro coins as Black Stork, Brown Cow, or Vidzeme should not be called commemoratives as well, because they do not commemorate historical events.
My point is not that it is wrong to call them commemoratives, but that Numista's catalog seems inconsistent: 1 lats coins are listed as "common", but similar euros are not.
Actually I never understood the point why in Numista catalog needs to make that divisions - what is "common" and what is not. As we see, it is not so easy to determine.
But the fact is that by it's character those 1 lats coins are absolutely the same as 2 euro CC nowdays. You are right from that point of view that they should be classified the same.
