OREANDA-NEWS. May 13, 2015. The Bank of Lithuania has for the first time offered numismatists to acquire valuable coins and their sets at electronic auctions. They will be taking place until 18 May. 

“The electronic auctions of numismatic items launched this week, which have already attracted participants, provide possibilities for all those using electronic signatures to conveniently and transparently compete for valuable litas coins and their sets not used for the Bank of Lithuania’s representation purposes. The winner of the auction will be the participant whose bid price will be the highest,” says Vygantas Reifonas, Director of the Organisation Service at the Bank of Lithuania.  

The first auctions offer to acquire the previously issued and now not on sale at the Bank of Lithuania’s cash offices 500 litas gold coin, dedicated to the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald; three sets of three coins — gold, silver and copper-nickel alloy — in commemoration of this historical date; twelve sets of three 100 litas gold coins, dedicated to the Millennium of the Mention of the Name of Lithuania, and eight 50 litas silver coins issued on various occasions. Later it is planned to also thus sell the litas banknotes of interest to numismatists.  

At the seventeen auctions now taking place, one coin and one coin set are put on sale at each. Each auction will last for 7 calendar days, thus one can participate in it either from the start or join later, if the price bid seems appropriate for a potential buyer. 

The initial bid price for the coins or their sets at the auctions is equal to that at which these items used to be sold at the Bank of Lithuania’s cash offices. In addition to collateral, which makes up one-tenth of the initial price for a numismatic item and will be reimbursed for participants and, in case of winning, will be included in the selling price, at each auction paying a participant’s registration fee is required.  

According to V. Reifonas, on the one hand, this will offset part of the project partner’s expenses. On the other hand, this is expected to encourage people to choose more responsibly, whether it is worthwhile participating in several auctions for buying a coin of the same denomination.       

The registration fee for a participant in the first auctions (EUR 9.99) is up to 1.5 per cent of the initial bid price for offered items, while in the future it may be adjusted with a view to the popularity of auctions, as they need to be commercially attractive.  

Information about items put on sale at electronic auctions and the procedure for conducting electronic auctions is published on the website of the Bank of Lithuania, and the address of the electronic auction is http://www.lbskrynele.lt/.

The procedure for the acquisition of collector coins issued into circulation by the Bank of Lithuania remains unchanged; they are on sale at the cash offices of the Bank of Lithuania.