COTY Awards given at World Money Fair
The Coin of the Year trophy was presented to the U.S. Mint at the World Money Fair in Berlin, Germany. Rhett Jeppson, principal deputy director of the U.S. Mint, accepted…
The Coin of the Year trophy was presented to the U.S. Mint at the World Money Fair in Berlin, Germany.
Rhett Jeppson, principal deputy director of the U.S. Mint, accepted the award honoring the copper-nickel clad half dollar issued in 2014 for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
It was given to him by David C. Harper, editor of World Coin News, sponsor of the award.
Struck as a cupped coin, the piece features a baseball glove on the concave side while the convex side shows the rounded surface of a baseball.
It won one of the 10 category awards as Most Innovative because of the great difficulty in striking a cupped coin from such a hard coin composition.
Jeppson also collected the trophy for Best Gold Coin, which was the Baseball Hall of Fame gold $5. Gold and silver cupped coins are easier to make because their alloys are softer.
Austrian Mint General Director Gerhard Starsich collected three trophies for category wins for his mint.
Best Silver Coin was an Austrian 20-euro piece marking the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Austria’s 25-euro silver and niobium piece with the theme of Evolution claimed the award for Best Bi-Metallic Coin.
Most Artistic Coin was an Austrian 50-euro gold piece depicting Gustav Klimt’s Judith II.
Germany walked away with the trophy for Most Historically Significant Coin. Dr. Thomas Dress accepted the award on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Finance.
Honored was the German silver 10-euro coin marking the 300th anniversary of the invention of the mercury thermometer by Daniel Fahrenheit.
The Best Contemporary Event Award was given to Mr. Janis Blums, head of the cash department at the Bank of Latvia, for a silver 5-euro coin marking the 25th anniversary of the Baltic Way Demonstrations that led to independence from the Soviet Union of the three Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Sandra L. Hanington, president and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint, was presented a trophy for the Best Crown Coin for a silver $20 coin with a maple leaf canopy design.
The British Royal Mint received the trophy for Best Circulating Coin, a 2-pound piece featuring an iconic World War I recruitment poster image of Lord Kitchener.
Anne Jessopp, the BRM’s director of Commemorative Coins and Business Services, accepted the award.
The Most Inspirational Exhibit Award was won by Poland for a silver 10-zlotych coin honoring the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jan Karski, who during World War II smuggled information out of Nazi-occupied Poland in a key that revealed to the Western Allies the first specific details of the Holocaust.
Barbara Jaroszek, deputy director of the Cash and Issue Department of the National Bank of Poland accepted the award accompanied by the Mint of Poland’s Siemowit Kalukiewicz, CEO, and Inga Kosim, head of the marketing department.
The final award was the Lifetime Achievement Award in Coin Design for husband and wife artist team Heinz Hoyer and Sneschana Russewa-Hoyer, who in their distinguished careers have worked for German state mints.
All of the coins honored at the 2016 event were dated 2014.
This article was originally printed in World Coin News.
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More Collecting Resources
• Come on down to the Chicago International Coin Fair in Rosemont, Ill. on April 14 to 17, 2016 to see impressive world coins, meet new collectors and participate in Heritage Auction’s fantastic coin auction.
• The Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 8th Edition is your guide to images, prices and information on the century's coins.
