Austria leads in first round of Coin of the Year voting

Three Austrian coins came out on top during the first round of World Coin News’ Coin of the Year Award voting by an international panel of judges that concluded Nov….

Three Austrian coins came out on top during the first round of World Coin News’ Coin of the Year Award voting by an international panel of judges that concluded Nov. 9.

A 100-euro gold coin, KM-3225, issued in the Austrian Wildlife series and depicting a Red Deer was tops in the Most Artistic Coin category.

2013 Austria Red Deer gold 100 euro

Triumphing in the Best Bi-Metallic Coin category is a Tunneling themed 25-euro silver and niobium coin, KM- 321.

2013 Austria Tunneling silver and niobium 25 euro

The third category winner named Best Gold Coin is a 50-euro coin issued in the Klimt and His Women series called The Expectation, KM-3218.

2013 Austria Klimt and His Women: The Expectation gold 50 euro

No other country won more than one of the 10 COTY categories.

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.

2013 Netherlands 1713 Treaty of Utrecht silver 5 euro

Winning 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.

2013 Belarus BPS-Sperbank copper-nickel ruble

Judges bestowed Best Silver Coin honors to Latvia’s 1 lats coin marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of composer Richard Wagner, KM-140.

2013 Latvia Richard Wagner silver 1 lats

Best Crown winner 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.

2013 Ireland James Joyce silver 10 euro

The United States Mount Rushmore quarter beat out the competition in 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.

2013 United States Mount Rushmore copper-nickel 25 cents

A coin showing a howling wolf, which is actually a cutout, was called the Most Innovative Coin by the judges. Issued by Mongolia, the coin is gilded silver and has a 500-tugrik denomination, KM-328.

2013 Mongolia Wolf Laser Cutout gold-gilded silver 500 tugrik

Canada topped voting in the Most Inspirational Coin category with a silver $3 showing Grandfather and Grandson Fishing, KM-1485.

2013 Canada Grandfather and Grandson Fishing silver 3 dollars

Judges will now select the Coin of the Year from this field of 10 category winners. All pieces are dated 2013.

Judging will conclude Dec. 6 and the results will be published in the January issue of World Coin News.

This article was originally printed in World Coin News.
>> Subscribe today or get your >> Digital Subscription

More Coin Collecting Resources:

• Kick-start your coin collection with the Fundamentals of Coin Collecting set of essential resources and tools.

• Strike it rich with this U.S. coins value pack.

• Build an impressive collection with Coin Collecting 101.