Polish coin world's most beautiful

A Polish coin depicting prized jazz musician Krzystof Komeda has been chosen as the most beautiful coin in the world. It was awarded the 2011 “International Prize Vicenza Numismatica,” by the jury at the seventh edition of the famed competition in Italy.

According to the official website, the prize is assigned to the most beautiful minted coin based on an assessment by the jury of its aesthetics and the message it conveys.

Designed by Roussanka Nowakowska, the coin was produced by the Mint of Poland on behalf of the National Bank of Poland. The coin, which is part of the “History of Popular Polish Music” series, was singled out for its “romantic depiction of the pianist,” according to a statement on the Mint of Poland's website.

The winners will be officially announced and presented with their awards on October 31 during the Vicenza Numismatica fair in Vicenza, where the featured coins will also be on display. The two other prizes at the festival include the coin with the best architectonic representation, and the artist with the most distinguished career in drawing coins, medals and sketches.

Posted by andrew, August 12, 2011. Post has 0 comments.
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Student discovers 50 pence piece dated 2011 in her change

It's a find that could earn a student a mint - a 50 pence piece with next year's date on. Sarah Legg was handed the coin in her change after paying for lunch at her college and noticed an unusual design.

The silver coin features one of 29 designs by members of the public created for the Royal Mint ahead of the 2012 Olympics.

Now the 17-year-old forensic science student hopes to sell it to coin collectors to help pay her university fees after she leaves Fareham College in Hampshire.

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Posted by andrew, December 17, 2010. Post has 2 comments.
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Coin Collecting Pays

This striking coin is actually struck with the wrong date. The $10 gold Eagle coin is stamped 1804 but was created in 1834 as a gift from Andrew Jackson. The coin has proved its value many times over. In 2001 it sold for a paltry million dollars, then two years later, it was declared for $2.4 million by a buyer.

There are only four of these coins in the word. Proving again that collecting coins continues to be a popular hobby that often starts when a parent or grandparent gives a special coin as a gift to a child or grandchild.

Posted by andrew, November 9, 2010. Post has 0 comments.
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One and five russian kopecks

The Central Bank of Russia has been long insisting on ceasing the minting of small coins, that are one and five kopecks. The reason is simple - the minting is more expensive than the nominal. To mint a one-kopeck coin they spend 47 kopecks.

The history of a copeck is old and hard, but not to say very ancient. The financial reform of 1534 made a copeck the basic coin, and there was a horseman with a lance printed on it. In Russian copeck is "kopeyka", and the word "lance" in Russian is "kopye". This is why it’s called "copeck".

Posted by andrew, October 13, 2010. Post has 0 comments.
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Use of 10 Syrian pound coins in Norway

The shape of the 10 Syrian pound coin has been found to so resemble the 20 Norwegian krone coin that it can fool vending machines, coins-to-cash machines, arcade machines, and any other coin-operated, automated service machine in the country. While hardly similar to the naked eye, machines are unable to tell the coins apart due to an almost identical weight and size:

Ten Syrian pounds converts to ~1 Norwegian kroner, or about 0.20 United States dollar. 20 NOK, on the other hand, converts to 3.70 USD, almost ~18 times the value of the Syrian coin. While not easy to find in Norway, the Syrian coins are still used in automated machines there with such frequency that the Norwegian postal service decided to close many of their coins-to-cash machines on February 18, 2006, with plans to develop a system able to differentiate between the two coins.

By the way, in the summer of 2005, one Norwegian man was sentenced to 30 days, suspended, for having used Syrian coins in arcade machines in the municipality of Bærum.

Posted by andrew, August 3, 2010. Post has 0 comments.
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Julius Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar (Roman military and political leader who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire) was the first to print his own bust on a Roman minted coin:

BTW. The Roman currency during most of the Roman Republic and the western half of the Roman Empire consisted of coins including the aureus (gold), the denarius (silver), the sestertius (bronze), the dupondius (bronze), and the as (copper). These were used from the middle of the third century BC until the middle of the third century A.D.

Posted by serge, March 17, 2010. Post has 0 comments.
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Coins or tokens for brothels

During archeological research in Pompeii a set of Roman tokens – spintria – was found, usually depicting sexual acts or symbols:

Spintriae from Pompeii

There were usually struck from brass or bronze, and were little smaller than a U.S. quarter. Spintriae may have been used to pay prostitute, who at times spoke a different language. While this is subject to argument, the numbers on them line up with known prices for Roman prostitutes. Some theorize them gaming tokens, and they may have been produced for only a short period, probably in the 1st century A.D.

Spintriae are a popular target of collecting and depending on the condition have a high auction price. Because of its relevance to the numismatic market, beware of huge modern forgery.

See more spintriae in details.

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Posted by serge, February 10, 2010. Post has 3 comments.
Roman Empire token

1792 Disme

PCGS Specimen-65 Brown. This 1792 Copper Disme: The Story of the Finest Known Specimen can be described easily using following auction results:

Ex Col. James W. Ellsworth Collection (Wayte Raymond, 1923) - Garrett IV (Bowers & Ruddy, 3/1981), lot 2352, where it was graded About Uncirculated and realized $54,000 - Marvin Brauder - Alhambra Coin Center; sold in 1998 - Hanks & Associates - Heritage Numismatic Auctions, Inc.'s "E-Fair Signature Sale"; October 8, 1999, Lot 6187, unsold (as of November 23, 1999, this coin was being offered by Hanks & Associates of El Paso, Texas for $575,000; then, in the May 22, 2000 issue of Coin World, the asking price was raised to $700,000) - "a group of private investors" - Rare Coin Wholesalers of California - Benchmark Ventures, L.P. with an asking price of $1.2 million.

Posted by serge, November 19, 2009. Post has 0 comments.
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Wedding of Charles & Diana coins

One of the most important events of the 20th century was Prince Charles and Diana Frensis Spencer wedding. It has been connected with the big expectations. Prince Charles, the applicant number one on a royal throne, has received chance to get successors that guaranteed continuation of dynasty Winsors. Diana Frensis Spenser, the daughter of the viscount and viscountess Oltorp became the bride of the prince. Wedding of Prince Charles and Diana Spenser has managed to the British treasury in 600 thousand pounds sterling Also it became the most expensive in the British history. In honour of wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spenser London mint made a memorable coin with face value one crone.

England 1 crone 1981. Princess Diana and Prince Charles.

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Posted by serge, November 9, 2009. Post has 0 comments.
Charles coin Diana United Kingdom wedding