San Marino

2006

Commemorative coin

500th anniversary of the death of Christopher Columbus

Official Journal of the European Union

Portrait of Christopher Columbus and a representation of the three Caravels; above the portrait the inscription ‘SAN MARINO’ and the wind rose; in the middle the mint mark ‘R’; below, the dates ‘1506 — 2006’ in a cartouche and the initials of the author Luciana De Simoni ‘LDS’; on the outer ring, the twelve stars of the European flag surrounding the design.

Additional information

Christopher Columbus (≈1451-1506) was an Italian navigator in Castilian services who discovered America in 1492 when he reached an island in the Bahamas. The portrait is based on a painting by Sebastiano del Piombo, with his name and the date 1519, together with his three sailing ships Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria, with which he crossed the Atlantic. At the top, under the inscription "SAN MARINO", there is a 16-ray sun in the form of a compass rose, a graphic means of representing winds and wind directions or cardinal points.

Edge lettering

Designer