18/12/2020

Coin marks Armed Forces of Malta anniversary

The Malta Armed Forces Act, which came into force on 22 September 1970, made provision “for the raising and maintenance of armed forces in Malta and to provide for matters connected therewith or ancillary thereto”. With this instrument, Malta could set up its own standing armed forces.

On 1 October 1970, 500 Maltese officers and men of the Royal Malta Artillery, an old and distinguished regiment, ceased forming part of the British Army and became part of the Malta Land Force, which some time later was designated as the Armed Forces of Malta.

This important milestone in Malta’s post-colonial development is being marked by the Central Bank of Malta with the issue of a silver, and a cupro-nickel coin.

The silver coin, which has a face value of €10, has a diameter of 38.61mm and is struck in 0.925 silver. The cupro-nickel coins are of a similar size but have a face value of €5. The coin design was made in collaboration between the Central Bank of Malta and the Armed Forces of Malta. The coins were manufactured by the Royal Dutch Mint.

On the reverse, the coins feature the regimental badge of the Armed Forces of Malta on a red-on-blue coloured background. On the obverse is the coat of arms of the Republic of Malta together with the year of issue.

The silver coins will be limited to 2,000 pieces whereas the cupro-nickel coins will have a minting limit of 10,000.

Mr Alexander Demarco, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Malta, officially launched the coins during an event organised by the Armed Forces of Malta at the Luqa Barracks, on 18 December 2020. The coins will be available for sale to the public from January 2021 and the relevant details will be communicated in due course.

For further information, the public is kindly requested to contact the Malta Coin Centre via email on [email protected] or by calling on (+356) 2550 6006/7.

From left to right:
Joseph Esposito – CBM; Colonel Mark Mallia – Deputy Commander, AFM; Brigadier Jeffrey Curmi – Commander, AFM; Minister for Home Affairs, National Security and Law Enforcement Byron Camilleri; Sandro Demarco – Deputy Governor, CBM; Jesmond Gatt – Chief Officer, CBM; and Melvin Bugeja – CBM.

 

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