Women’s Suffrage Coin Voted Most Historically Significant

A United States silver dollar is among the finalists chosen after the first round of balloting for the 2022 Coin of the Year (COTY) Awards, an internationally conducted awards program recognizing excellence and ingenuity in coin design. The 39th annual program, presented by World Coin News, sister publication of Numismatic News, and sponsored by the Journal of East Asian Numismatics, honors 2020-dated coins issued by countries around the world.

From a field of 100 coins put forth by the COTY Nominating Committee, the program’s international panel of judges named the U.S. Mint’s 2020 Women’s Suffrage silver dollar coin Most Historically Significant. The award category is one of 10 in the competition.

The commemorative coin’s obverse design features the profiles of three women, each wearing a different type of hat to symbolize the many decades the suffrage movement spanned. The reverse design shows “2020” being dropped into a ballot box, styled with art deco elements to indicate the artistic style of the era.

In the other categories of competition, the Austrian Mint emerged as a strong contender. Judges favored Austrian submissions for Best Gold Coin, Best Bi-Metallic Coin and Most Artistic Coin.

France and Latvia had notable showings as well, with two category wins each: Best Contemporary Event Coin and Best Crown Coin for France, and Best Silver Coin and Most Inspirational Coin for Latvia. South Africa received Best Circulating Coin honors, while Barbados took Most Innovative Coin.

The winners in each of these 10 categories will go on to the final round in the competition and vie for the prestigious title of Coin of the Year.

Following is a list of these category winners with commentary from Tom Michael, COTY coordinator, World Coin News contributor and market analyst.

Once the final vote is complete and the ultimate Coin of the Year is determined, a virtual awards ceremony will be held. For more details, keep an eye on www.NumismaticNews.net.