Notable News (September 23-29, 2025)

This week’s headlines include a Bluey Australian Christmas coin, a 1629 gold 100 ducat of Ferdinand III, 2025 IAPN Book Prize, and a gold theft at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.

The Royal Australian Mint has released two new holiday-themed Bluey $1 colored coins, featuring Bluey and her little sister Bingo. Sold in ornament packaging, the Christmas 2025 collectible coins will be available via an online lottery and at select outlets starting October 16.

Photo: Royal Australian Mint

In November, a 1629 gold 100 ducat of Ferdinand III of Habsburg is expected to fetch $2.52 million at auction. The piece is part of the Traveller Collection—15,000 rare coins once buried to protect them during World War II— that is being sold across 15 auctions over three years . The entire sale is estimated at $6.3 million.

Photo: Numismatica Ars Classica

The  International Association of Professional Numismatists (IAPN) has awarded its 2025 IAPN Book Prize to Jean-Yves Kind for his two-volume catalog of French royal gold coins, Catalogue des Monnaies Royales Françaises. His books span the reigns of Louis IX to Louis XVI and feature many extremely rare and unique specimens.

Photo: Gadoury

Thieves broke into Paris’s National Museum of Natural History overnight on September 15, stealing raw gold nuggets worth $700,000. Taken from the geology gallery, the pieces are considered scientifically invaluable. Police suspect a highly professional team used a blowtorch and grinder to carry out the theft.

Photo: Wikimedia.org/Benh LIEU SONG