The Media Forum is part and parcel of the World Money Fair. It is a platform that enables mints to present the programme of the upcoming year to the numismatic press and interested visitors. With the return of the World Money Fair in 2023, the Media Forum finally took place again. This time, high-calibre representatives of 11 mints gave a presentation. Here is a breakdown of the event.
United States
After the opening speeches of Barabara Balz and Albert Beck, the United States Mint was the first to present. Director Ventris C. Gibson explained that her mint mastered the challenges of Covid rather well. As a response to the sharp increase in demand, the production of circulation coins was increased in the summer of 2020 to its highest rate since 2001 – 1.6 billion circulation coins per month. Over the past two years, the US Mint also enjoyed a significant increase in sales of bullion and commemorative coins.
Regarding their planned releases, Gibson announced the women that will be featured by the American Women Quarters Program in 2024: Celia Cruz, Patsy Mink, Pauli Murray, Zitkala-Ša and Mary Edwards Walker. Find out more about the honourees here. Gibson’s presentation ended with an outlook for 2026. The US will celebrate its 250th anniversary that year. For the first time in the history of the US Mint, all circulation coins will be issued with a modified design to mark the occasion.
Great Britain
Next was Caroline Webb, Chief Marketing Officer of the Royal Mint. Due to the Queen’s passing and the transition to a new coin effigy, the employees of the Royal Mint are very busy at the moment. Unsurprisingly, the issuance of a coronation range was announced to celebrate the coronation of Charles III this May. Moreover, Caroline Webb pointed out that the Royal Mint Die Trial Pieces Auction will take place on 19 February, where the last patterns of the Queen and the first patterns of the new King will be offered.
Greece
Then spoke Markos Kontaxopoulos of the Bank of Greece. After a few words of introduction, he presented a film about Greece’s new coins. As usual, most motifs focus on the subject of ancient Greece and the history of the past 200 years. Here are a few examples of the coin programme: the next issue of the “Greek Mythology – The Olympian Gods” series will be released in 2023 and focus on Artemis; a 200-euro gold coin and a 2-euro coin will celebrate the 100th birthday of the soprano Maria Callas; the “Philhellenes” series will be continued with a coin dedicated to Karl Normann Ehrenfels, the “Cultural Heritage” series with an issue for the island of Delos; the mathematician Euclid will also be honoured with a coin.
Italy
Matteo Taglienti of the Italian Mint also presented a film that showcased Italy’s diverse coinage programme for 2023.
The popular series on Italy’s food and wine culture will be continued with the Veneto issue focusing on Prosecco and spider crabs as well as a the Lazio issue featuring Frascati and Amatriciana. This year’s release of the Italian Excellences Series honours Giorgio Armani.
Three colour coins are dedicated to characters of the Italian comic book series Diabolik of 1962. Highly interesting from the technical perspective is the concave colour coin for the Ryder Cup, a golf competition that will be hosted by Italy for the first time in 2023.
China
The next speaker was Anita Chau of the China Great Wall Coins Investments. In a very aesthetic presentation, she informed the public about the 2023 precious metal issues for China that are produced by the China Gold Coin Group – unfortunately without showing the coins themselves.
Here you can find an overview of the programme and the release schedule.
Canada
Marie Lemay, President of the Royal Canadian Mint, used the stage to recall the events of the past year and the pandemic, a time that her company got through very well. She pointed out that the mint is working on its carbon neutrality and on the subject of ethical gold. For the latest generation of Maple Leaf bullion coins, the Royal Canadian Mint only uses gold from a single mine in Canada. In this way, they can track 100% of its supply chain and exclude unethical sources. Finally, Lemay promoted this year’s Mint Directors Conference that will take place in Ottowa.
Gibraltar National Mint
On behalf of the Gibraltar National Mint, Albert Poggio and the well-known engraver Rafael Maklouf presented the new coin effigy of Charles III for Gibraltar’s coinage. Maklouf already created several effigies of Queen Elizabeth for coins of Great Britain and the Commonwealth.
Austria
Next was Andrea Lang of the Austrian mint. The 3-euro series “Luminous Marine Life”, which was started in 2022 and showcases the effects of colour application and UV light, will release four new coins this year, starting with Swell Shark in spring. The “Uncharted Universe” series, featuring innovative technological possibilities, is continued with “Neutron Star”. Austria’s well-known niobium coins will already celebrate their 20th birthday in 2023. This year’s niobium issue will focus on the subject of global heating.
Kazakhstan Mint
This time, Kazakhstan was represented by Aizhan Masheyeva and Aziya Ibrayeva. They presented a new commemorative coin dedicated to the endangered species of the Balkhash Perch, which stands out due to the three-dimensional depiction of this fish.
Japan Mint
Yamana Norio, President of the Japan Mint, recalled the mint’s history and summarised the developments of the past Covid years.
As a new release, he presented the coin celebrating the inauguration of Japan’s first railway line 150 years ago and the exclusive coin set for the World Money Fair – I can tell you first hand that these coin sets sold like hot cakes.
Croatian Mint
The last presentation was held by Goran Paladin, Director of Production at the Croatian Mint. With a lot of enthusiasm, he presented once again the world’s smallest coin launched by Croatia to say farewell to its former currency, the kuna. Here you can find out more about the background of this issue.
And that was it – the Media Forum 2023, and everyone hurried to their next appointment at this busy World Money Fair. What remains is an exciting impression of what we can look forward to this year. An unusual aspect was that many mints recalled events of the past years at this Media Forum. It became apparent that most mints mastered the pandemic very well. This was not to be taken for granted – just think of the initial (and, as we now know, unjustified) concern that Covid might be transmitted via coins.
If you would like to know more about the programs of the mints, you can watch the entire livestream of the Media Forum here.
