China displayed in Berlin on Friday the first series of precious metal commemorative coins for the 29th Olympic Games which is to be held in Beijing in 2008, adding "a precious treasure" to the Olympiad history.

The set consists of two gold and four silver coins. Each gold coin weighs 1/3 ounce and each silver coin weighs one ounce.

"The will add a precious treasure for the Olympic Games history, and offer valuable collectables for Olympic Games items fans," Shan Jiansheng, president of China Gold Coin Incorporation, told a press conference on the sideline of the 35th World Money Fair.

Both the gold and silver coins share a common obverse design characterized by such composition as a paired Chinese dragon image, the Olympic Games emblem, the name of the country and the year.

The design on the reverse side of the gold coins are "Equestrian Sports Image" and "Archery Sports Image" with drawings of horse riding and arrow shooting, dated back to 1,500 years ago in China, matching Olympic Games pictogram.

For the silver coins, the reverse designs were featured with lovely and lively children playing typical Chinese traditional games -- kite flying, goat jumping, hoop rolling and shuttlecock kicking.

"In general, the design of the Beijing 2008 Olympic coins has depicted the true Chinese style, which conveys the 'unique Chinese flavor,' and also expressed in its production technics the perfect combination of tradition and modern," Shan said.

The second and the third series of the coins will be issued respectively in 2007 and 2008.

Finland is the first country which issued the first precious metal Olympiad commemorative coins when it hosted the 15th Olympic Games in 1952.

Ye Yingnan, director general of currency, gold and silver bureau of the People's Bank of China, said that the coins have been designed to display the Olympic motto "Citius, Altius and Fortius."

"It reflects the theme of 'New Beijing, Great Olympics' and the slogan of 'one world, one dream' adopted by Beijing 2008 Olympic Games."

"The coins picture a harmonious combination of civilizations of both the old and the modern unfolded in Beijing, and express the common value treasured by all the people living in the 'Global Village,'" he added.

The World Money Fair, the world's largest money mints show, used be held in Basel, Switzerland and moved to Berlin starting from this year.

The fair, which ends on Feb. 5, was attended by around 300 exhibitors from all the world. Barbara Balz, a member of the fair's organizing committee, said she expected 10,000 people to visit the fair.

"The fair is growing, we have more people in Berlin than Basel, the market is much larger, so we expect more business here, " she told Xinhua.

(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2006)