One of the only circulating coins with a weasel

Malta

The Republic of Malta is an archipegio in the middle of the Mediterranean, east of Tunisia and about 100km (60 miles) South of Sicily. With an area of 316km2, and a population of 515,000, it is one of the smallest countries in Europe.

Malta has always been a religious place, from the Megalithic Temples of Malta, constructed during the 4th millenium B.C. (4,000 – 3,000 B.C.) to the Sovereign Order of Malta – the Knights of Malta, founded during the 11th Century and still active today. Over 90% of the country profess Catholicism as their religion, with 365 Catholic churches.

Malta was a British colony from the early 19th century, until 1964. In 1974, Malta became a full republic.

Obverse

The obverse of the coin shows the Maltese coat-of-arms. This is “a shield showing an heraldic representation of the national flag of Malta; above the shield a mural crown in gold with a sally port and five turrets representing the fortifications of Malta and denoting a city-state; and around the shield a wreath of two branches: the dexter of Olive, the sinister of Palm, symbols of peace and traditionally associated with Malta, all in their proper colors, tied at base with a white ribbon, backed red and upon which are written the words Repubblika ta’ Malta (“Republic of Malta” in Maltese) in capital letters in black.”

The “National Flag of Malta consists of two equal vertical stripes, white in the hoist and red in the fly, with a representation of the George Cross, edged with red, in the canton of the white stripe; the breadth of the flag is one and a half times its height.”

The coin features the country name above, and the year (1995) below.

Reverse

The reverse of the coin features the denomination, “1c”, for one cent, with the rest of the coin being dominated by a weasel.

The Maltese weasel, or Ballottra, is the smallest carnivore in the world and is now considered to be a rare species, due to the loss of its habitat on the island. It is believed to be the only natural inhabitant of Malta. The primarily nocturnal creature only grows to around 20cm in length.

As well as being rare on the island, the weasel is fairly rare on coins. Numista only lists 10 coins searching for “weasel”, and when you narrow that to circulating coins, only the Maltese 1 Lira coins are returned. There are two versions of the coin. The first, is a 1986 1 Lira coin featuring the original independence Emblem of Malta from 1975. This depicts “a coastal scene with the rising sun, a traditional Maltese boat, a shovel and a pitchfork, and an Opuntia”. The other is today’s coin, with the coat of arms, issued from 1991-2007 when Malta joined the EU currency.