An international panel of judges selected a gold White Rhino, 1 ounce, 100-rand coin from the South Africa Mint Natura series as the winner for The 2011 Coin of the Year Award. The award will be given on 29 January 2011 at the World Money Fair in Berlin, Germany. The judging panel selected the coin from a field of 10 category winners that had been chosen in the first round of voting that had been conducted in November. This year’s competition for 2009-dated coins began with a field of 93 coins issued by mints worldwide.
The coin has a diameter of 32.7mm and a mintage of 4,000. Obverse of the 2009-dated coin was designed by N. van Niekerk and M.J. Scheepers. The reverse was designed by van Niekerk and A. Minnie. The common obverse depicts the White Rhinocerous (Ceratotherium simum). The word Rhinoceros means "nose-horn". The horn is not actually a horn but consists of thickly matted hair consisting of Keratin – a chemical substance that our fingernails are made of. The white rhino is not white (it is actually grey) and has been misnamed due to misinterpretation. Because this species is a true grazer its mouth is wide and square lipped and the first Afrikaners named it "wide-mouthed" or "wyd mond". "Wyd/weit" was translated incorrectly as "white". read: South Africa Mint.
COTY 2011 category winners:
- Canada $300 Native American Summer Moon Mask gold piece-Most Artistic.
- Canada Crystal Snowflake silver $20-Best Silver design.
- France 10 euro marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall-Best Contemporary Event.
- Kazakhstan 100 tenge commemorating Attila the Hun-Most Historically Significant.
- South Africa Gold White Rhino, 1 ounce, 100 rand-Best Gold.
- Finland’s Peace and Security silver 20 euro- Best Crown.
- Vienna 10 euro silver coin of the Basilisk-Most Popular.
- Slovakia’s first 2 euro circulating coin-Best Trade.
- British Indian Ocean Territory’s 2 pound silver and crystal Life of the Sea Turtle coin-Most Innovative.
- Poland 10 zlotych silver honoring the World War II Polish underground resistance to Nazi occupation-Most Inspirational.
The public will join in bestowing honors by selecting a People’s Choice Award winner from a field comprised primarily of the category winners. Visit www.numismaster.com to vote. Voting closes 2 January 2011. The winner will also be honored at the special COTY Awards reception in Berlin. COTY Awards are sponsored by World Coin News, a sister publication to Numismatic News.
Source: Numismaster.com
Source: Numismaster.com
