LITAS: COIN OF LITHUANIA
2 litas, 1925: Republic of Lithuania
2 - DU LITU: 2 - two litas.
Plant ornament (stylized wreath).
LIETUVOS RESPUBLIKA: Republic of Lithuania.
Coat of arms of Lithuania: mounted armoured knight holding a sword and shield, known as Vytis.
Columns of Gediminas or Pillars of Gediminas.
Columns of Gediminas — one of the earliest symbols of Lithuania and its historical coats of arms. Nowadays it appears in the coat of arms of Seimas and in the emblems of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, Land Force, Air Force, Navy, Military Police, National Defence Volunteer Forces...
Royal Mint (United Kingdom).
Mintage: 3.000.000.
- Silver (0.500): 23 mm - 5.38 g
- Reference price: 12$
COIN LITAS — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA (1925-1938 + 1991-2014): litas = 100 centas
LITAS as coin name.
Litas (plural: litu/litai/litų) — coin and currency of the Republic of Lithuania from 1993 to 2014 inclusive, as well as in the period 1922-1940 (before the occupation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union). Divided by 100 centas.
The first litas in the form of coins — silver 1, 2 and 5 litas — were minted in 1925 at The Royal Mint (London, United Kingdom). In 1936, 5 and 10 litas of a new design were released, and two years later — a jubilee coin of 10 litas (Kaunas Mint, Lithuania).
After Lithuania left the USSR, first Soviet rubles were replaced by coupons ("Lithuanian talonas", temporary currency). In 1993, circulation of the national currency — litas — was resumed (the first coins of this denomination were dated 1991).
Since 2015, Lithuania has been using the euro in monetary circulation. It looks like litas, at least for next decades, has ceased to exist.
The litas coin got its name from the name of the issuing country: litas — Lithuania (similar to lats — Latvia, afghani — Afghanistan, boliviano — Bolivia, leone — Sierra Leone, somalo — Somalia, zaïre — Zaire...).
