Romania: New Gold Proof Coins Remember The 80th Anniversary Of ‘operation Neptune’

On the 8th October 1940, troops of the Third Reich began crossing into Romania and soon numbered over 500,000. On the 23rd November that same year, Romania under its leader General Ion Antonescu joined the Axis powers and contributed more than 300,000 soldiers to fight against Soviet forces. During this time, the national treasury was not under threat of confiscation by German forces. However, the main threat was the Red army would invade Romania, and the treasury most certainly would be looted. As a measure to avoid Romanian gold reserves being confiscated, officials at the National Bank of Romania put a plan into operation to ensure the country's gold reserve was protected from Soviet invasion and seizure. Circumstances were very different to the events leading to Romania’s evacuation of its gold reserve during the First World War. In an effort to guarantee the same mistake was not repeated in 1916 when the Romanian National Treasury was evacuated to Moscow for ‘safe keeping’, The Governor and Vice Governor made the decision to evacuate the treasury to a Monastery in the town of Tismana.

Almost three decades prior to these events, the National Bank of Romania dispatched a total of 91.48 tonnes of fine gold to Moscow in December 1916 and July 1917. Ostensibly for safe-keeping, the shipments consisted of 1740 cases of the Bank’s gold reserves, 1738 cases containing gold coin and bullion bars. Two cases in particular contained personal items belonging to Queen Marie which included much of her jewellery collection valued at more than $1.2 million. All of the cases were stored at the Kremlin, in the Armoury Chamber reserved for the Moscow branch of Russia’s State Bank. Unfortunately for Romania, the Bolshevik’s seized power in Russia in 1917, and the Romanian gold reserves along with the Queen’s jewellery were permanently confiscated. To date, the gold deposited more than one hundred years ago, still remains an outstanding diplomatic issue between the two countries. Despite the Romanian Government’s protests after both World Wars, Queen Marie's jewellery was also never returned to Romania or her descendants.

Initially in October 1943, the Romanian Government had entered into negotiations with the Swiss Government to relocate the National Bank’s reserve of gold to a Swiss vault. However, Swiss authorities were unable to accommodate Romania’s request and this plan was abandoned. By January 1944, it was clear that the Third Reich and its allies would not win the war and the idea of transferring gold reserves to Germany was out of the question. Learning from past mistakes, the decision to find a safe place within the country was undertaken by the board of the National Bank. Ultimately, the final resolution would be up to the Bank’s Governor, Constantin Angelescu (1883 - 1973) who served in this capacity from 1931 to 1934 and again in 1944. Also consulted was Deputy Governor Ion Lapedatu (1876 – 1951) who oversaw the relocation of the banks’ gold bullion reserve, the numismatic collection and precious works of art. Located in the south west region of the country, the Tismana Monastery was believed to be the most logical and safest place to store such a large quantity of gold and other irreplaceable national treasures. The task of relocating the gold from Bucharest to Tismana was code-named ‘Operation Neptune’ and took place between the 8th and 22nd July 1944. Five vans per day made a total of 75 journeys which transferred 192.4 tonnes of gold that was stored in the monastery cellar. Aside from Romania’s gold reserves, a portion of Poland’s gold reserves were also stored for safe keeping. This gold travelled with Poland’s President Ignacy Mościcki, officials of the Polish government and the commander-in-chief of the army when they crossed the Polish-Romanian border during the night of the 17th / 18th September 1939 just after the Third Reich’s invasion.

The Soviet Union invaded Romania in the spring of 1944 and entered the country through present-day Moldova. As expected, the Red army of the USSR were on the look-out for Romania’s gold reserve which they expected to find in the National Bank – but they never found it. However, the events of the 23rd August 1944 put the location of the gold reserve in danger. Romania’s King Michael along with politicians from allied opposition parties led a coup against General Antonescu, and his fascist government. As such, the National Bank’s Board who were still entrusted with the country’s treasury realised that the gold stock was no longer safe in the Monastery’s cellar and decided to relocate it once again, from the monastery to an underground cave nearby. Fortunately, and with a great amount of secrecy of the exact location known to only a few people, the treasure remained hidden in this cave until January 1947. During these three years, the cave was opened only once, at the beginning of 1945 when 210 boxes containing 10.2 tonnes of gold were taken for the minting of the Ardealul nostru medal. Operation Neptune ended successfully with all the gold returned to Bucharest from the 26th January to the 4th February 1947, its hiding place shrouded in secrecy until the end. Also in 1947, the 3 tons of the Polish treasury were returned to their rightful owner and transferred back to Warsaw.

In 2016, The National Bank of Romania’s Treasure Museum at the Tismana Monastery was inaugurated. On display inside a cave in the monastery, visitors can see a recreation of the depository where the National Bank of Romania’s Treasure was relocated. Also included is a display of the gold from the Polish National Bank Treasury.

The gold proof coins are produced by the Monetăria Statului, Romanian State Mint at their facilities in Bucharest on behalf of the National Bank. The obverse side includes three-quarter front-facing portraits of both Constantin Angelescu and Ion Lapedatu, the images are recreated from actual photographs. In the background is a portion of the edifice of the National Bank of Romania. Above the primary design and along the upper rim is the inscription OPERATIUNEA NEPTUN. The names C. ANGELESCU and I. LAPEDATU are superimposed over each portrait and just along the lower rim. The reverse side depicts a ground level image of the Tismana Monastery, where the Treasury of the National Bank of Romania was evacuated in 1944. Above and towards the upper left rim is the text ROMANIA and just under this is the Romanian crest in miniature. The denomination 100 LEI is shown to the right of the crest and the year of issue, 2024 is superimposed over the primary design and along the lower rim.

 
Available from the 5^th November, each gold coin is encapsulated and accompanied with a certificate of authenticity containing the signatures of the NBR governor and the central cashier. They are available directly through the Bucharest, Cluj, Iasi, and Timişoara regional branches of the National Bank of Romania. For additional information, please visit the numismatic section of the website of the National Bank of Romania.