Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2024 i World Coin News

In our neck of the woods, the spring has sprung. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and our market analysts are just watching that through the windows as we scour mint and central bank websites for new coins to add to our NumisMaster database to facilitate your collecting pursuits. Now, for a taste of what’s happened in NumisMaster since our last installment. Similarly to last month, about a dozen countries gained additions in the last 30 days. Unlike last month, the number of coins added shot up to over 1,000, the bulk of which fell into Niue. The number of contract mints producing coins in the name of Niue has just about doubled since this time last year and the variety of themes, as well as the quantity…

Coins and currency may not always be what they appear to be. A treasure hunter armed with a metal detector and whoever may be claiming to be in charge of the Government of East Africa will attest to that. The two instances have one thing in common—they each attempted to use physical cash to deceive people. Both looked to change history, sort of. In the first instance, Michael Jones of Port Talbot in Wales was ironically found not guilty of who knows what when it was proved in court Jones deliberately falsified a finding of 12th-century deniers of Bohemond III minted in Antioch. In real life, Bohemond III conquered Antioch from the Turks during the Crusades. Bohemond was an ally of the Byzantine Empire and an adversary of Levon I…

“I’m from the government, and I’m here to help you” is a famous quote by Ronald Reagan meant to caution people anytime the government gets involved in something new. These words should increasingly resonate with coin collectors as the U.S. State Department appears to be anxious to bump up the number of countries with which a rather one-sided Memorandum of Understanding is being agreed to that impact the ability of U.S. citizens and museums to import and own antiquities, often including certain coins. Currently, ancient coins identified as having originated in Algeria, Bulgaria, China, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Syria, and Yemen are on a list that requires their importation to be proved to have been made prior to specific dates by presenting satisfactory evidence to that…

THE COTY 100 A special thank-you to our sponsors. The process for the 2024 Coin of the Year awards began in early January with a worldwide call for nominations. From roughly 3,400 different coins released in 2023, mints, banks, and coin enthusiasts submitted nearly 600 for consideration. "The COTY100 for 2023-dated coins contains candidates from 42 countries around the world. There are 39 mints and central banks represented in this group, making the spectrum very broad and quite illustrative of the various world trends we see evolving over this recent cycle of coin production," said Tom Michael, Senior Analyst of NumisMaster and COTY co-coordinator. The COTY 100 features 10 outstanding coins in each of 10 specific categories. Voting has already commenced and our panel of over 100 judges are casting…

It’s time to dust off your passports and get excited about seeing some of the coins you usually only read about. We are headed to the United Kingdom! Numismatic News, World Coin News and Bank Note Reporter editors Maggie Pahl and Sophia Mattimiro have teamed up with a seasoned travel agency to bring you a week immersed in world coins in London and Wales. Our adventure, taking place Sept. 25 through Oct. 2, features amazing numismatic attractions such as the British Museum’s collection of money, the Coinex 2024 show, a V.I.P. tour of the British Royal Mint and more. A week of sensational coin exploration awaits. “Our team couldn’t be more excited to offer this outstanding travel opportunity to the numismatics community,” said Pahl. “Getting the chance to tour some…

Perhaps the coins didn’t change, but the tradition did. The Maundy coins on which King Charles III appears followed all the normal protocols, however, for the first time in recent history the coins weren’t distributed by the reigning monarch. In 2024 Charles’ portrait appears on the Maundy coins for the second time. The ceremony was established hundreds of years ago to mark Jesus having washed the feet of his disciples the night before he was crucified. The ceremony began as a ceremony at which the monarch washed the feet of some poor people. The ceremony evolved into a custom of giving alms to the poor on Maundy Thursday. Henry IV (1367-1413) began the tradition of coins being given that reflect the age of the monarch. The special Maundy coin sets…

Throughout the seventh and eighth centuries, coinage circulating in the British Isles was evolving. There is evidence that Merovingian gold tremisses coins struck in Frankland after 650 as well as Anglo-Saxon gold thrymsas or shillings were in use in what is today Britain. Beginning about 675 Anglo-Saxon gold thrymsas or shilling coins were increasingly being replaced by larger quantities of silver pennies or sceattas as the main coin used in commerce. The use of sceattas spread from Kent and the Thames region into other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, and Wessex. These sceattas were minted for about a century, their silver content gradually being debased. About 770 with the exception of Northumbria a larger diameter yet thinner penny was introduced by the various coin minting entities. Viking raiders…

• *How is the term bit used regarding coin denominations? A bit was valued at 12.5 cents, this being a pie slice shape one bit or piece of eight (1/8th) from a silver Spanish 8-reale coin. A dime was sometimes referred to as a short bit, with 15 cents in value referred to as a long bit. • *Were the Spanish 8-reale coins the first to be cut to make change? Spanish 8-reale coins were far from being the first to suffer being chopped up to make change. Bronze coins from about 274-216 B.C. struck for Hieron II of Syracuse on Sicily are known halved for this purpose, as are many medieval deniers and pfennig. Since medieval coins were typically thin it was easy to cut them when necessary. •…

A seldom-seen Chinese coin that realized over half a million dollars was among the rarities in a recent Stack’s Bowers Galleries sale. The April 2024 Hong Kong Auction - Session 1 - Rarities Night was held on April 15, 2024. The top coin was a China 1932 Silver Dollar - Birds Under Junk graded NGC MS 62 (lot 40212), which realized $528,000. Envisioned as part of a series aimed at transitioning China to the gold standard, this prototype coin weighed more than 25% less than the contemporary “Birds Over Junk” Dollar. Notable adjustments were made to its reverse design, including relocating the geese beneath the boat and altering the inscription to “Gold Standard Currency, One Dollar.” Also finishing strong was a China 1906 Tael Restrike graded NGC MS 65 (lot…

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. ALABAMA Jun 1 AL, Huntsville. Stamp, Postcard & Coin Show. Jaycee Community Building John Hunt Park, 2180 Airport Road. SH: Sat. 10-5. A: Free. Mike O`Reilly. or PH: 256- 527-4601 or mcoreilly@yahoo.com. Jul 19-21 AL, Bessemer. Alabama Numismatic Society Annual Convention. Civic…

Zimbawe’s currency has been through a lot. In 1980 the Zimbabwe dollar replaced the Rhodesian dollar on par. Beginning in August 1991 the value of this Zimbabwe dollar began to erode dramatically. In August 2006 the dollar was redenominated at an exchange rate of 1,000 to one in what the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe called Operation Sunrise. In July 2008 the dollar was once again redenominated, this time at a rate of 10 billion ZWN dollars to one new dollar. At this time a severe cash shortage coupled with the quickly diminishing value of the domestic currency brought about foreign currency being legalized as de facto currency. Zimbabwe’s government stopped publishing inflation figures in 2007. It has been estimated inflation was greater than 100,000 percent in January 2008, increasing to…