2026 Coin of the Year Award Winners

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China is celebrating its first Coin of the Year win with its “Chinese Dragon” 10 yuan silver bullion coin, which was named the 2026 champion during the Coin of the Year (COTY) award ceremony at the ANA’s World’s Fair of Money® (WFM) in Pittsburgh on August 27. The coin’s obverse features the serpentine Great Wall in a mountainous landscape, and the reverse depicts a Chinese dragon. Designed by engraver Wang Hu Ming, the dragon’s appearance was inspired by the Gilded Dragon of the Tang Dynasty and the Nine Dragon Wall in Beijing’s Forbidden City.

Presented by World Coin News and sponsored by The Journal of East Asian Numismatics, Numismatic Guaranty Company, and the WFM, the Coin of the Year award competition recognizes outstanding coin design and innovation worldwide. The COTY Nominating Committee selected 100 finalists (10 coins in 10 categories) from a pool of nearly 600 coins dated 2025. An international panel of judges then selected the top coin in each category. 

The winners in each category are:

Most Historically Significant Coin—Austria

Silver 20 euro, “Beliefs and Rituals—White Gold of Hallstatt”

Best Contemporary Event Coin—France

Base-metal 2 euro, “Notre-Dame”

Best Gold Coin—United States of America

Gold $100, “American Liberty”

Best Silver Coin—Austria

Silver 20 euro, “Einstein Ring”

Best Crown Coin—China

Silver 10 yuan, “Chinese Dragon”

Best Circulating Coin—Hungary

Base-metal 200 forint, “Hungarian Academy of Sciences Commemorative Circulation Coin”

Best Bimetallic Coin—Austria

Silver-niobium 25 euro, “Digitalization”

Most Artistic Coin—France

Silver 10 euro, “El Dorado—The Sower”

Most Innovative Coin—France

Silver 10 euro, “90 Years of Lancôme”

Most Inspirational Coin—Ukraine

Nickel silver 5 hryvnias, “Let’s Hold the Line!”