US Mint - With this year's Coin of the Year (COTY) win, the U.S. Mint now holds the record of five COTY wins in the competition. Italy is in close second with four wins.
COTY is a global annual competition founded and conducted by the American antiques and collectibles publisher Krause Publications. The current competition selects coins produced two years prior across 10 different categories with one overall winner.
The awards symbolize the highest achievement in international numismatic design, artistic vision, and craftsmanship. Beginning in 1984 with awards for coins produced in 1982, the COTY program has sought to spur advances in numismatic artistry and technology and increase mass appeal among collectors.
The U.S. Mint won the first COTY award in 1984 for the 1982 George Washington Commemorative Silver Half-Dollar commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the birth of George Washington. The coin was also named Most Popular and Most Historically Significant.
The following year, the U.S. Mint won the 1985 COTY award for the 1983 Olympics Discus Thrower Silver Dollar. The coin also won for Most Popular and Best Crown.
In 1988, the U.S. Mint won its third COTY award for the 1986 U.S. Statue of Liberty $5 Gold, a design that also won for Most Popular.
The U.S. Mint's fourth COTY award came in 2007 for the 2005 Marine Corps Commemorative Silver Dollar, which also won Best Crown.
For the 2016 competition the U.S. Mint came away with three wins, all of which were from the 2014
Baseball Hall of Fame commemorative coin program. The
Baseball Hall of Fame commemorative half-dollar won the COTY award. It also won the Most Innovative Coin award, honoring the Mint's accomplishment of minting the first cupped clad coin. The
Baseball Hall of Fame $5 gold won in the Best Gold coin category.
All the 2016 winning coins will be honored at a special awards ceremony at the World Money Fair in Berlin, Germany on February 6, 2016. The Coin of the Year competition trophies will be presented to the 10 category winners and the COTY winner. Principal Deputy Director Rhett Jeppson and Office of Coin Studies Director Jon Cameron will be on hand to accept the three award trophies for the U.S. Mint (Best Gold, Most Innovative, and Coin of the Year).
In most cases the mints and central banks from around the world nominate and submit coins for the competition in one or more of the 10 categories below. However, anyone wishing to bring attention to their favorite coin or coins may submit a nomination.
A panel of judges comprised of authors, editors and numismatists, as well as members of the American Numismatic Association and Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee meet in the fall at the offices of World Coin News in Iola, Wisconsin in October to choose the nominees from hundreds of coins received from around the world. They choose nominees in each of 10 individual categories.
An international panel of approximately 80 judges comprised of mint and museum officials, journalists, and individual experts use ballot voting to choose the winners in each of the 10 categories. The winners are announced in December. A second round of secret electronic balloting selects the Coin of the Year winner from among the category winners. The winner is announced after the ballots are tabulated.
There was stiff competition for the COTY honor this year. The Austrian Mint, a perennial contender for the international award, fielded three of the 10 possibilities from which the judges made their final choice.
This year, the U.S. Mint had two of the 10 coins in the second and final round of contention.
Five other nations had coins in the race. They were Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Latvia and Poland. They, too, will be honored in Berlin for their wins as trophies will be given to winners in each of 10 categories.
Some might wonder why the judges selected a clad half dollar over similar coins made of gold or silver. Gold and silver are much softer metals and easier to strike as cupped coins. Other mints in the world have pioneered in these unconventional striking techniques.
Striking a cupped coin of copper-nickel clad composition even in fairly small collectible quantities had not been done before. For this the Mint was triumphant and it resulted in winning the Oscar of Coins aka the COTY.
The U.S. Mint has won many other awards in the various categories throughout the 33 year history of the COTY awards. For a complete list of all the winning coins go to:
http://www.numismaster.com/ta/insid...year-archiveThe competition's 10 categories are:
Most Historically Significant CoinCoins commemorating events, institutions or individuals deemed highly significant in terms of the historical heritage of a people, a country or mankind that must have passed into a historical perspective at least 100 years ago.
Best Contemporary Event CoinCoins commemorating events, institutions or individuals deemed important in terms of current or recent events influencing a people or mankind to have occurred within the past 99 years.
Best Gold CoinCoins manufactured from gold, platinum, palladium or another exotic precious metal with consideration to the unique theme the coin depicts.
Best Silver CoinCoins manufactured from silver, which have all-around appeal, both from an aesthetic and a commercial standpoint with consideration to the unique theme the coin depicts.
Best Crown CoinCoins with all-around appeal, both from an aesthetic and a commercial standpoint with consideration to the unique theme which the coin reflects, and how the coin fits historically into the "crown" definition with a minimum size of 37mm and a maximum size of 45mm.
Best Circulating CoinCoins that are made of non-precious metals, possess all-around appeal, both from aesthetic and commercial viewpoints, and best meet the basic considerations of actual circulating monetary units.
Best Bi-Metallic CoinCoins which reflect the concept of a ring coinage, where outer ring and inner center are made of different, contrasting metals with all-around artistic appeal, both from aesthetic and a commercial standpoint with a unique theme the coin depicts.
Most Artistic CoinCoins based solely on the value of their outstanding artistic merit with no consideration to their commercial potential, theme or popularity.
Most Innovative CoinCoins best fitting the term "innovative concept in coinage." Pioneering metallic alloy issues, non-typical coinage materials, planchet shapes, distinct visual themes or other innovations may be rewarded in this category with special consideration to technological advancements, which forward minting ideas and mechanics.
Most Inspirational CoinCoins must feature designs devoted to ideas, events, institutions or individuals that best exemplify man's eternal aspirations for peace, freedom and human rights with consideration of theme, design and artistic merit.
Posted 02/05/2016 4:35 pm
