A new €2 coin designed by a Rabat schoolboy and featuring a series of traditional children’s games will reach people’s pockets next week.

Ymen Riahi’s design depicts games such as marbles, kite-flying and a Maltese version of hop-scotch, which is known locally as passju. The St Nicholas Middle School pupil’s coin also shows three bees flying in a circle, alluding to a popular chant sung by children during play. 

His coin is the last of a series of five designed by pupils from the ‘From Children in Solidarity’ programme launched in 2015 by the Central Bank of Malta, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation.

The coin also has the name of the issuing country, Malta, engraved on it with the year of issue, 2020.

Profits from the sale of the coin cards go to the Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation. 

The commemorative coin will be issued on 14 December 2020 by the Central Bank of Malta and can be bought from the Malta Coin Centre or be pre-ordered from Friday.

The coins were struck in circulation quality at the Monnaie de Paris in France and will be issued in rolls of 25 coins each as well as in coin cards. The issue is limited to 220,000 coins, of which 200,000 will be issued in rolls and 20,000 will be available in cards. The cost of a roll of 25 coins is €70, while that of a coin card is €7.

For more information, contact the Malta Coin Centre via email on mcc@centralbankmalta.org or by calling (+356) 2550 6006/7/8.