Romania 2010 50 bani
In 2010 Romania issued a Commemorative coin dedicated to the 100th Anniversary of the First Flight of Aurel Vlaicu's Plane. It is a very rare event when the National Bank of Romania issues special coins to go into circulation. Once Romania joins the euro, Romania will have the right to have a representative image on the back of the euro coins. Therefore the National Bank of Romania began experimenting with several possible designs. This denomination was selected in 2010 as it is about the size of the one euro coin. Romania plans to issue euro coins with Aurel Vlaicu on the reverse. In 2011 another 50 bani commemorative coin was issued having Mirca cel Batran ("Mircea the Elder") on the reverse. In 2012 another commemorative coin is expected.
Aurel Vlaicu
Aurel Vlaicu was born in November 1882 at Binţinţi village (renamed Aurel Vlaicu from 1925) on the Mureş River, at that time in Austria-Hungary, today in Romania. He was an Romanian engineer, inventor, airplane constructor and early pilot. He attended Calvinist High School in Orăştie (renamed "Liceul Aurel Vlaicu" in his honour in 1919) and took his Baccalaureate in Sibiu. He studied at the Polytechnic School of Budapest and at the Technische Hochschule in Munchen, and he worked in Germany at Opel from some time. After that he returned to Binţinţi where he build a glider with which he flew in 1909. Later that year, he moved to Bucharest, in the Kingdom of Romania, and with the support of Spiru Haret, he built in year 1910, at the Arsenal of the Romanian Army in Bucharest an airplane which he called Aurel Vlaicu no. I. with which he flew for the first time on June 17, 1910, over Cotroceni field. His plane was built with Romanian parts after his own design.
Aurel Vlaicu died in 1913 near Câmpina while attempting to cross in flight the Carpathian Mountains in his aged Vlaicu II airplane. He is buried at the Bellu cemetery, in Bucharest.
Vlaicu I was the first airplane, built in Romania by a Romanian engineer, that manoeuvered well and was capable of long voyages in the same time. Vuia and Coandă flew before 1910, but their flights were merely long leaps, their airplanes being a kind of demonstrative / functional model.
Recorded Mintage: 5,000,000 for circulation plus 5,000 special editions for collectors (sold at 10.39 lei each).
Specifications: brass (80% copper, 15% zinc, 5% nickel), 6.1 g, 23.75 mm diameter, 1.9 mm thick, edge lettered "ROMANIA * ROMANIA *" twice.
Catalog reference: KM 259.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 2001-Date, 13th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2018.
Links:
- Italy 2002 euro
- 2001 5000 lei, the 125th anniversary of the birth of sculptor Constantin Brancusi
- 2008 500 lei, 90th anniversary of union with Bessarabia and Transylvania
- Romania 2011 50 bani
- Coins and currency dated 2010
- return to coins of Romania
http://www.allnumis.com/coin/romania/50-bani-2010-aurel-vlaicu-12651
http://www.allnumis.com/coin/romania/50-bani-2010-aurel-vlaicu-proof-12751