Aland Islands coins are undoubtedly unique. There was no intention for them to be used outside of the group of islands, which lie between mainland Finland and Sweden. They barely circulated in the Alands themselves. However, Aland Islands coins played an essential role in the numismatic history of the region.
And coin collectors love them. Most Aland Islands (written using the Swedish Åland locally) coins are a bit hard to find, but certainly not impossible. Examples of these unique coins that do still exist today continue to be searched for by collectors who wish to add them to their own catalogs of European coins.
Aland Islands coins from 1991
In the early 1990s, the Aland Islands, which is an autonomous part of Finland, minted their own set of coins. They used the currency daler (plural also daler), and the reverse of each also uses the word mark, based on the Finnish markka. There were three denominations on these particular Aland Islands coins:
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- 10 daler – Made of bronze. Featured the value in Swedish: TIO DALER (obverse) and TIO MARK (reverse)
- 50 daler – Made of copper-nickel. Featured the value in Swedish: FEMTIO DALER and FEMTIO MARK
- 100 daler – Made of silver. Featured the value in Swedish: ETTHUNDRA DALER and ETTHUNDRA MARK
Each of these coins depicts a different type of boat, in honor of the long seafaring tradition of the Aland Islands and its position in the Baltic Sea. Each also displays a coat of arms on the obverse. There are two varieties of each, one with a smooth edge and one with lettering around the edge.
Mintages are unknown, and finding examples of these can be a challenge, especially if you are looking for a complete set.
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Aland Islands coins from Finland
In addition to these special Aland Islands coins, Finland has also minted coins with Aland Islands subjects. Included in these are a 2006 5-euro coin honoring the demilitarization of Aland. There was also a 2021 coin valued at two euros depicting the autonomy and self-governance of the Aland Islands. Examples of these, as well as proofs, should be easy enough to find for your own collection of Aland Islands coins.
There have been occasional other coins and coin-like issues depicting Aland Islands scenes or otherwise related to the group of autonomous, Swedish-speaking Finnish islands. For a place with such a slight coin history, there is a surprising range of possibility when collecting Aland Islands coins.
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Note: The Finnish term for the Aland Islands is Ahvenanmaa, and occasionally coin sellers will use that term instead of Åland.
