Cyprus 5 cents 1983 - Bull's Head

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 5 cents coin bears on the reverse a bull's head taken from a shallow silver bowl of the 14th century BC, with a wishbone-shaped handle, kept in the Cyprus Museum in Nicosia. 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 solid numeral 5: from 1985 onwards, the numeral is outlined with a fillet. The Royal Mint struck 15,000,000 pieces, plus 6,250 proofs. The 5 cents coin remained in use until Cyprus changed over to the euro in 2008.