A dancer in powerful, free movement, wrapped in light flowing fabric that accentuates the fluidity of the pose: this is how the Finnish 2 euro of 2022 marks the centenary of the Finnish National Ballet.

The company was formed in 1922 within the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki, just five years after the country gained independence. Today it is the only Finnish company that regularly performs the classical ballet repertoire, and it runs a ballet school that trains professional dancers.

Since 1993 the ballet has performed in the National Opera building, the first theatre in Finland built specifically for opera; the old building then got back its historic name, the Alexander Theatre.

There is no stage and no scenery on the coin, only movement and fabric; the year «2022» is placed at the bottom, the letters «FI» and the mint mark at the top. The coin was released in spring 2022 with a mintage of 400,000, followed in the autumn by a 2 euro dedicated to climate research.

Grade UNC: the coin has never circulated, the folds of the fabric and the outline of the figure show no wear, and the mint lustre is preserved. In a thematic collection on dance and theatre, it is one of the few circulating coins whose hero is ballet itself.

If you collect coins by country or by theme, take a look at the VPcoins catalogue: it is a convenient place to find the neighbouring pieces of a series.