A gold coin by Austrian Mint's, Klimt and his Women 50-euro gold coin is the winner of the Coin of the Year 2015 Award. An international panel of judges in a vote that concluded Dec. 6. has select the Coin of the Year from 10 category winners.
An award trophy will be presented Jan. 31, 2015 at the World Money Fair in Berlin, Germany, by representatives of World Coin News, sponsor of the award.
Trophies will also be presented to the winners of the 10 COTY category awards chosen by a previous round of voting by the judges.
Here Austria started strong, taking the top title in three of 10 categories.
The 50-euro Coin of the Year was at the top of the Best Gold Coin category. The piece, called, "The Expectation," Standard Catalog of World Coins number KM-3218, is part of a series of gold coins honoring the works of Gustav Klimt, who worked in turn of the century Vienna, dying in 1918.
Also vying for the COTY award was a 100-euro gold coin, KM-3225, issued in the Austrian Wildlife series and depicting a Red Deer. It came out on top of the Most Artistic Coin category.
Winner of the 2015 Coin of the Year Award: Austria's 2013 Klimt & His Women gold coinAustria's third candidate in the COTY race was the winner of the Best Bi-Metallic Coin category, a Tunneling themed 25-euro silver and niobium coin, KM- 321.
The other category winners from which the judges made their final selection were as follows:
The Most Historically Significant category winner was The Netherlands 5-euro silver coin marking the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht that ended the War of the Spanish Succession, KM-326.
At the head of the Best Contemporary Event category was a copper-nickel ruble, KM-436, issued by Belarus to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the founding of BPS-Sberbank. This category honors historically important events that occurred less than 100 years ago, while the Most Historically Significant Coin category is for the important people and events of more than 100 years ago.
Best Silver Coin honors were taken by Latvia's 1 lats coin marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of composer Richard Wagner, KM-140.
Best Crown was Ireland's silver 10 euro commemorating author James Joyce, KM-80.2. Crowns are coins with a diameter of 37 millimeters to 45 mm.
The United States Mount Rushmore quarter headed the Best Circulating Coin category. The copper-nickel piece is KM-546 and is part of the America the Beautiful series of 25-cent pieces.
A coin showing a howling wolf, which is actually a cutout, is the Most Innovative Coin. Issued by Mongolia, the coin is gilded silver and has a 500-tugrik denomination, KM-328.
The Most Inspirational Coin category was led by a Canadian silver $3 showing Grandfather and Grandson Fishing, KM-1485.
Coin of the Year is an annual award first given in 1984. It was created to spur advances in numismatic artistry, technology and mass appeal among collectors.
All pieces considered were dated 2013, or the year's equivalent in other calendars.
World Coin News is published by Krause Publications.
