The COTY 100

From 2,300 coins produced around the globe, 100 rose to the top. This is how 10 coins in 10 categories of competition became The COTY 100, these to be considered by an international panel of judges in the first round of voting in the 2023 Coin of the Year awards. The coins are all dated 2021.

The program, presented by World Coin News and sponsored by The Journal of East Asian Numismatics, begins each year when the COTY Nominating Committee convenes to select these 100 nominees.

“After all the preliminary weeding down from roughly 2,300 coins produced in 2021, the COTY Nominating Committee considered nearly 400 coins from 40 countries in just about four hours,” said Tom Michael, COTY co-coordinator, senior editor and market analyst for NumisMaster. “In the end, they selected coins from more than 30 of them as finalists. I really like that broad span! It tells us that an increasing number of coin producers and issuing countries are creating hand-held works of high quality on an ever-expanding basis.”

Michael shares his thoughts on
coins nominated in each of the 10 COTY categories:

Most Historically Significant

The Nominating Committee sparked an interesting discussion this year on the significance of the death of an historical figure, as opposed to their birth or the date of their significant historical act, movement, or discovery. Coins commemorating an historical figure’s death seem to be decidedly after the fact was the conclusion, and it felt to me as though this might become a very powerful factor in our future process.

Best Contemporary Event

Again this year it seemed that the Contemporary Event category of COTY has become a vast span, reflective of the increasing speed of the 20th to 21st centuries’ tremendous developments. You’ll notice this in scanning the 10 nominees that run the gamut from wars to political developments and from video games to microchips to space exploration.

Best Bi-Metallic Coin

The Bi-Metallic category is one of only three categories this year that holds coins from 10 different countries. The other two were Circulating and Innovative, which in my opinion reflects well on the effect our Coin of the Year program has had on the advancement of practical coin production.

Best Gold Coin

Always a very competitive category in COTY voting, the Best Gold Coin selection this year saw increased debate and stronger opinions even in the nomination process. This could be the most exciting area for COTY 2023!

Best Silver Coin

This year, the Best Silver Coin category became a hotbed of personal perspective, with coins of vastly different but incredibly dynamic designs, finding their way into the mix of 10 nominated finalists.

Best Crown

The traditional Crown has transformed as we move into the 21st century, requiring the COTY Nominating Committee to search for familiar approaches in design balance and elements in modern crown sized commemoratives. I think we successfully found a solid selection of 2021 candidates.

Best Circulating Coin

A wide variety of circulation coins were scrutinized by the Nominating Committee this year, with 10 countries represented from Northern to Southern Europe and North to South America. It’s a very diverse group, but all of them have a common denominator: each sports a commemoration important to their home country’s persona.

Most Artistic Coin

For the Most Artistic category, the Nominating Committee certainly uncovered some of the most beautiful coins to be found in the wide range of 2021 production. Now we turn to the Judges Panel, made up of experts from around the globe, to determine the top coin in this group. It’s the melding of such disparate perspectives that make this such an exciting category to follow.

Most Innovative Coin

The 10 coins competing for this year’s Most Innovative award touch a number of topics. Shapes, metals, designs and techniques are all represented, mostly in the form of commemoratives; however, one coin stands apart from the rest as the only circulating coin in the category. It will be most interesting to see how the Judges Panel reacts to this circumstance.

Most Inspirational Coin

Inspiration has arrived at nomination through many forms this year, including heroism, charity, devotion, political activism, patience, dedication, nationalism, beauty, nonviolent resistance, miracles and robots. This category is overflowing with worthy candidates!

The determination of The COTY 100 marks the beginning of the voting phase of the awards program. A Judges Panel of more than 100 experts from around the world will determine the winner in each of the 10 categories, from which the ultimate Coin of the Year will be chosen.

Following is a complete list of the nominees in each award category. (Red text indicates coin shown).