Coin of the Year Awards

Published November 6, 2023 | 2 min read

By Darcie Graybill

The 40th Coin of the Year (COTY) Awards were announced at the ANA’s World’s Fair of Money® (WFM). Presented by World Coin News and sponsored by The Journal of East Asian Numismatics and the WFM, the competition recognizes and encourages outstanding coin design and innovation worldwide. 

A panel of 100 judges determined the top 2022-dated pieces in 10 categories, plus the overall champion, which went to Austria’s “Black Hole” 20 euro with a convex/concave shape. A cone appears to rise from the center of the obverse, representing the curvature of space-time, while the reverse depicts a black-hole vortex with a colorized spiral. This show-stopping piece also won the “Best Silver Coin” category. The awards were bestowed at Pittsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center on August 9.

“While the World Money Fair [in Berlin] provided a wonderful environment for COTY and we cherish those years and the friendships they produced, we are looking for something new with the ANA,” says Tom Michael, COTY co-coordinator. “We are looking forward to our new relationship with the World’s Fair of Money as an opportunity to encourage collectors and mints to come together in a new forum to exchange ideas about coin collecting and production.”

Winning Coins

The 2022-dated winners in each category are as follows:

MOST HISTORICALLY
SIGNIFICANT COIN

Monnaie de Paris

Silver 10 euro, “Pasteur”

BEST CONTEMPORARY EVENT COIN

The Royal Mint

Cupro-nickel 50 pence with color
printing, “50 Years of Pride”

BEST GOLD COIN

South African Mint

Gold 50 rand, “The Lion”

BEST SILVER COIN

Austrian Mint

Silver 20 euro, “The Black Hole”

The Black Hole 20 euro. (Photo: The Austrian Mint)

BEST CROWN COIN

Bank of Greece

Silver 10 euro,
“The Antikythera Mechanism”

BEST CIRCULATING COIN

Royal Australian Mint

Aluminum-bronze 2 dollar, “Honey Bee”

BEST BIMETALLIC COIN

Austrian Mint

Silver-niobium 25 euro,

“Extraterrestrial Life”

MOST ARTISTIC COIN

Royal Australian Mint

Silver 5 dollar, “Beauty, Rich and
Rare—The Great Barrier Reef”

MOST INNOVATIVE COIN

Royal Canadian Mint

Silver 50 dollar, “Canadian Ghost Ship”

Canadian Ghost Ship 50 dollar. (Photo: Royal Canadian Mint)

MOST INSPIRATIONAL COIN

National Bank of Ukraine

Silver 10 hryvnia, “In Unity, Strength”