Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2022 i World Coin News

Dorothy the Dinosaur, Australia’s most famous dinosaur and much loved friend of The Wiggles, was on hand at the Royal Australian Mint (the Mint) to mint the first coin in the world for 2022. Dorothy the Dinosaur said, “It was such an honour to be invited to press the first coin of 2022 and I’m particularly pleased that it features a dinosaur! I can’t wait to show the coin to my Wiggly friends and hope that it encourages more people to find out about all the different dinosaurs that lived in Australia.” People from across Australia entered into a drawing in hopes of winning the highly sought after first coin of the year, this year with the theme Dinosaurs Down Under. Royal Australian Mint CEO, Leigh Gordon, highlighted the importance…

THE TULKU SUCCESSIONS in Tibet are a bureaucratic approach to the succession problem, which all governments seem to be afflicted with. The succession problem, briefly, is this: in systems were there is someone “in charge,” how do you prevent that slot from being occupied by a clunker of some sort? A dummy, a maniac, a tool of some hidden manipulator. The tulku succession system in Tibet is still in place. When the current Dalai and Panchen Lamas die, they will be replaced in the normal manner, by a committee. The current Panchen Lama was approved by Beijing. Beijing does not approve of the current Dalai Lama, but it has not attempted to replace him, as previous Chinese governments have occasionally tried to do. Tibetans never accepted the Beijing-imposed Dalai Lamas,…

I recently admired some large art medals, some of it being free standing. Where do you draw the line between what is an art medal and what is sculpture? Medalic art has been called “art you can hold in your hand.” Where you draw the line between when a piece of art is simply a free-standing medal and where it becomes sculpture has been argued for years. No one has a definitive answer. Why are coins round versus other shapes? There is no specific reason why coins are usually round other than for the ease of production and handling. While business strike coins are almost universally round non-circulating legal tender commemoratives have increasingly been produced in novel shapes including as maps and animate subjects. The Bahamas is an interesting exception,…

On Feb. 1 of solar year 2022 a new lunar year will dawn. For the traditional Chinese calendar it is year 4719 - the 39th year of the current 79th sexagenary (60 year) cycle. In the Chinese system of Earthly Branches it is a Year of the Tiger. Specifically it is Rén Yín [ ›› ] or Year of the Water Tiger. A Year of the Tiger (YoT) is the third in the 12-year cycle of animals that form the Chinese zodiac. The animals’ order of precedence was determined by the Great Race devised by the August Personage of Jade. Just prior to reaching the finishing line the animals involved in the Race found their way blocked by a broad swiftly-flowing river. Even though the Tiger had no fear of…

The World Coin News club show and commercial events calendar is a guide to events with a focus for world-coin collectors. Domestic events scheduled up to 10 weeks in advance of the issue date and foreign events up to six months in advance are listed. Abbreviations used: “A” – Admission charge; “T” – number of tables; “F” – Table fee; “N/A” – not available. Other data required for submitting a listing: name and address of show site, and name and address of bourse chairman or other contact person. FEBRUARY Feb 3 FL, Gainesville. Gainesville Coin Show. Gateway Grand by Best Western, 4200 NW 97th Boulevard. SH: 10-6. A: Free. T: 52. Rich Selvar. PH: 352- 257-7111 or ocalacc@gmail.com. Feb 6 NY, Niagara Falls. Coins, Currency & Collectibles Show. Lewiston Fire…

GREECE EXTENDS MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING Can you claim something is your cultural patrimony when your country didn’t even exist at the time the artifact or coin was produced? This minor detail isn’t an issue for Greece, which has recently extended its agreement with the United States through a Memorandum of Understanding to cover relics, art, and coins dating from the fourth century A.D. to 1830. According to a Sept. 22 U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Greece posting, “This renewal marks the 10th anniversary of the Memorandum of Understanding Concerning the Imposition of Import Restriction on Categories of Archaeological and Ethnological material of the Hellenic Republic and is an example of the United States’ enduring commitment to work with Greece to combat cultural property trafficking and to preserve heritage items. The…

The Austrian Mint emerged as a strong contender in the first round of balloting for the 2022 Coin of the Year (COTY) Awards, an internationally conducted awards program recognizing excellence and ingenuity in coin design. The 39th annual program, presented by World Coin News and sponsored by the Journal of East Asian Numismatics, honors 2020-dated coins issued by countries around the world. From a field of 100 coins put forth by the COTY Nominating Committee, judges favored Austrian coins for an impressive three of the 10 categories of competition: Best Gold Coin, Best Bi-Metallic Coin and Most Artistic Coin. France and Latvia had notable showings as well, with two category wins each: Best Contemporary Event Coin and Best Crown Coin for France, and Best Silver Coin and Most Inspirational Coin…