Krause Publications, a leading producer of coin and paper money books, magazines, events and online products, has announced the nominees for the 2013 Coin of the Year awards.

Richard Giedroyc takes up the cudgels for a new mint policy on precious gold objects. Why should a mint leave the market for precious gold jewelry and watches to private companies? Couldn’t this be a new market segment for well known mints being famous for their solidity?

In the USA often private organisations or foundations profit from commemorative coin issues. A new bill aims at re-directing the profits to deficit reduction.

In September the National Bank of Sweden announced that newly designed coins will be introduced in 2016 comprising again a 2-krona coin. Swedish sculptor Ernst Nordin won the design competition with his design ‘sun, wind, and water.’

How long will coins be used any longer? Dave Harper doubts whether coins will continue to exist for much longer, at least in the USA. The decisive factor might become the vending machine industry.

There is a lot of confusion regarding the German policy of changing the VAT rate on objects of art and collectors’ items. From January 1, 2014 the VAT will be of 19 percent on all collectors’ coins. Distributors and resellers in particular will face administrative difficulties.

The upcoming MintWorld Compendium will be dedicated to ‘Innovations.’ Of these the last ten, twenty years have seen quite a lot. Please write us which innovations you consider most important. And if you have the feeling something is missing on the list, please feel free to drop a line. We will include a little bit of information on your favorites within the upcoming MintWorld Compendium.

On November 13 and 14, 2012 London-based auction house Morton & Eden hold two sales: The Huntington Collection of Portuguese and Portuguese Colonial Coins auction and a Coins, Banknotes and Historical Medals sale. Both showed strong results totaling for £573,504 and £586,530 respectively.

The Island Nation of Palau has issued a teddy coin and Coin Invest Trust has once again managed to do the extraordinary, creating possibly the world’s plushest silver coin by incorporating a small, furry bear into it.

In the lead-up to Remembrance Day, it is only fitting that Australia’s first ever $2 commemorative circulating coin features the poppy flower, a symbol synonymous with this important day of reflection.