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The Central Bank of Armenia put into circulation the silver collector coin dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Alexander Spendiaryan’s birth on Wednesday, October 13, the CBA said in a statement.

Alexander Spendiaryan (1871-1928) is a great Armenian composer, conductor, pedagogue, a musical and social activist, People’s Artist of the Armenian SSR (1926).

In 1892-1894 Spendiaryan studied the theory of composition with N. Klenovsky in Moscow, and in 1896-1900 with N. Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg. He lived in the Crimea, got involved with conductor’s and musical and social activities. As a composer, he was influenced by Russian and Armenian cultures.

Since 1924 Spendiaryan lived in Yerevan. During that period he wrote the “Yerevan Etudes” and completed the heroic-patriotic opera “Almast” (by H. Tumanyan’s poem “The Siege of the Tmouk Castle”, libretto by S. Parnok) – one of the best works of the Armenian music theater.

Spendiaryan played a great role in the formation of the Armenian National Composer School – he enriched Armenian music with new themes, expanded the genres, laid the foundation of the Armenian national symphony. His “Crimean Sketches”, “Three Palms”, “Yerevan Etudes” and other symphonic works are classic samples of Armenian symphonic music.

The Spendiaryan House-Museum was established in Yerevan. The Yerevan National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater (1933) and Music School No. 1 carry the name of the composer.

Obverse: the monument to Spendiaryan (sculptors: A. Sargsyan, Gհ. Chubaryan, architects: G. Aghababyan, F. Darbinyan, 1953) against the background of the Opera and Ballet Theater building (architect A. Tamanyan, 1932) and a dancer.

Reverse: Spendiaryan’s portrait, note pages of the “Three Palms”, stylized images of a violin, inkwell and palm trees.

Designer: Vardan Vardanyan.

The coin is minted in the Lithuanian Mint.

Technical specification of the collector coin

Face value            1000 dram
Metal/fineness       silver 9250
Weight                   33,6 g
Diameter               40,0 mm
Quality                   proof
Edge                      ribbed
Quantity of issue   500 pcs
Year of issue         2021

Notice

Collector coins are made of precious metals and are issued to present to the society the national, international, historical and cultural, spiritual and other values of the country, to immortalize these values in the metal and to meet the demands of the numismatic market.

Like any other currency the collector coins have face value which makes them the means of payment. However, the face value of these coins is much lower that their cost price which includes the cost of the precious metal used for manufacturing of the coin, mintage and other expenses. Low face value and high cost price allow these coins to be considered as the items of collection and not the means of payment used in money circulation. The collector coins have also the sale price set by the Central Bank of Armenia.

As the items of collection the collector coins are issued in very restricted quantities and are not reissued.

Numismatists, collectors and all interested persons can buy the Armenian collector coins in the sales salon “Numismatist” which is in the building of the Central Bank of Armenia and is open for everyone.