YEREVAN, January 14. /ARKA/. The Central Bank of Armenia said Monday it had issued a gold commemorative coin dedicated to the 125th anniversary of  great Armenian actor of a drama theater Vahram Papazyan.

The bank also issued  silver commemorative coins dedicated to the 150th anniversary of a popular painter Stepan Aghajanian and the 100th anniversary of famous Armenian astronomer Benjamin Margaryan and Armenian painter Ara Bekaryan.

Theater masks appear on the gold coin’s obverse, or heads. The nominal value of the coin—10,000 drams—is engraved on the background of a curtain  at  the bottom of the coin. The contour has “HAYASTANI HANRAPETUTYAN KENTRONAKAN BANK” (The Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia) inscription in Armenian letters.
The reverse of the coin, or tails, has a portrait of Papazyan, dates “1888” and “1968” are below, “VAHRAM PAPAZYAN” inscription  in Armenian letters is  in the right and left sides of the contour.

The coins are made of 900 fine gold of proof quality, its diameter is 22.0 mm, weight—8.6 grams. The banks issued 1,000 gold coins of 10,000-dram face value each.

The heads of the coin dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Ara Bekaryan has a fragment from “Ashtarak” picture, the face value of 100 drams is engraved at the bottom. “HAYASTANI HANRAPETUTYUN” (The Republic of Armenia) in Armenian letters is engraved at the top and bottom of the coin. The tails of the coin portrays Bekaryan and has a fragment from “Qaj Nazar” (Brave Nazar) fairy tale. “ARA BEKARYAN” and “ARA BEKARYAN 1913-1986” inscriptions in Armenian letters are designed on the edges of the coin.

The obverse of the coin dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Stepan Aghajanian has a fragment from “The daughter of the artist’s sister” picture. The face value of 100 drams is engraved at the bottom of the obverse side, “HAYASTANI HANRAPETUTYUN” (The Republic of Armenia) lettering is designed on the top and bottom of the coin. The reverse side portrays the artist as well as palette and brushes . “STEPAN AGHAJANYAN” in Armenian letters and “STEPAN AGHAJANIAN” in English letters are engraved at the top and bottom of the coin.

The both coins have the same technical characteristic: the bank issues 500 silver coins each, the face value of which is 1400 drams. The coins are made of 925 fine silver; the size is 28.0х40.0 mm and weight—28.28 grams. Colored paints were used for the coin production.

Moreover, the CB has also issued a silver coin commemorating the 100th anniversary of Beniamin Margaryan. Stars and galaxies appear on the heads of it, the face value of 1000 drams and the year of issue—2013—appears at the bottom. “HAYASTANI HANRAPETUTYAN KENTRONAKAN BANK” in Armenian letters (The Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia) is engraved on the contour of the coin. The reverse side illustrates the portrait of the astronomer and the galaxies discovered by him. “BENIAMIN MARGARYAN” in Armenian letters and “BENJAMIN MARGARYAN”  in English letters as well as “1913-1985” are engraved at the top and bottom of the side.

The coin was made of 925 fine silver of proof quality; its diameter is 40.0 mm and weight—33.6 grams. The bank issued 500 silver coins of 1000 face value each.

Eduard Kurghinyan is an author of the sketches on the coins dedicated to Vahram Papazyan and Ara Bekaryan. Vardan Vardanyan is the author of the other coins. All the coins were minted at Royal Dutch Mint.—0-