Cyprus 1 cent 1983 - Stylised Bird

The coin's story

In 1983, Cyprus abandoned the mils: the Cyprus pound was now divided into 100 cents, and a new series of coins was put into circulation. The 1 cent coin, the lowest value of the series, bears on the reverse a stylised bird in front of a branch, taken from a bichrome ceramic jug of the Cypro-Archaic period. The obverse, engraved by Clara Georgiou, shows the arms of the Republic, a dove holding an olive branch with the year of independence 1960, and the name of the country in English, Greek and Turkish. This first type, struck only in 1983, can be recognised by its numeral 1 drawn with a single line and weighs only 1.5 g: from 1988, the numeral is drawn with a double line and the coin weighs 2 g. The Royal Mint struck 15,000,000 pieces, plus 6,250 proofs. The 1 cent coin remained in use until Cyprus changed over to the euro in 2008.