December 12, 2013 – France has won the 2014 Coin of the Year Award sponsored by World Coin News. The Monnaie de Paris’ Yves Klein 10-euro silver coin with a distinctive blue hand of the artist against a silver background triumphed Dec. 8 at the conclusion of voting by an international panel of judges.
Award presentation will occur at a special ceremony Feb. 8, 2014, at the World Money Fair in Berlin.
The Klein 10-euro coin, KM-2087, had been chosen as the Most Artistic Coin among 10 category winners that were selected to compete for the Coin of the Year.
France had two category winners competing for the top award. Winner of the best Silver Coin category was a silver 10-euro coin, KM-2079, that featured a French Ocean Liner design, “Le France.”
Australia also had two category winners in the final round. Its winner in the Best Crown category, which is for coins approximately silver dollar size, was a silver $5 coin, KM-1853, showing the Southern Cross in a blue sky on the reverse.
Australia’s second category winner was for Best Circulating Coin. The aluminum-bronze $1 coin, KM-1738, proclaimed the International Year of the Farmer.
The remaining category winners were divided among six nations.
Greece topped voting for the Most Historically Significant Coin with a silver 10-euro coin called Greek Culture – Socrates, KM-248.
Best Contemporary Event Coin, which honors historically important events in the past 99 years, was Great Britain’s silver 10-pound coin for the London Olympic Games, KM-1227.
Canada’s Royal Canadian Mint won the Most Innovative Coin Award for its glow-in-the-dark Dino Skeleton nickel-plated steel 25-cent coin, KM-1252.
Best Bi-Metallic Coin is from Finland. It is the Helsinki – World Design Capital 50 euro where the outer ring is silver and the inner ring is gold, KM-180.
Italy claimed the Best Gold Coin with its Fauna in Art – Middle Ages 20 euro, KM-352.
The Award in the Most Inspirational Coin Category went to Alderney for a copper-nickel 5-pound coin for Remembrance Day, Nov. 11, KM-219.
The international panel of judges is comprised of mint masters, artists and numismatists. The COTY winner, as well as all 10 category winners, will be awarded trophies in Berlin. All coins in the competition are dated 2012. A nominating committee met in the offices of World Coin News in Iola, Wis., on Oct. 4, 2013. The committee placed 99 coins on the first round COTY ballot, which is to determine the category winners. A second round of voting determines the Coin of the Year.
Nominations for the 2015 COTY awards can be made by anyone. They should be submitted to World Coin News and they will be reviewed by the nominating committee.
The Coin of the Year Award was first given in 1984. The award was created by World Coin News to encourage great art, usefulness and innovation in world coinage and to recognize the mints that create these qualities in coinage.
You can find all 2014 COTY winners in this article on CoinsWeekly.
And to see a list of all winners ever please go to the Numismaster website.