In this article, Nicola Sudan, Regional Director of Reconnaissance International, provides a viewpoint on the continuing usefulness of coins in South Africa.

The Coin of the Year (COTY) Awards have been held every year since 1984, with a panel of judges nominating ten coins in each of the ten award categories. From there, another panel of international judges review the nominees and select the category winners.

On 1 January 2023, and following a two-year break due to COVID, the Royal Australian Mint held its annual First Coin of the Year event at its facility in Canberra.

As 2023 begins, the US Mint has unveiled several coin designs and release schedules for the year and announced its final 2022 production figures.

The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are all issuing commemorative coins in support of and to help raise funds for Ukraine.

The National Bank of Belgium is encouraging citizens to flush out their low denomination coins and exchange them as quickly as possible, due to shortages of the 5 and 10 cents in particular.

As it prepares for the euro changeover next month, the Croatian Mint has created a new world’s smallest coin featuring the world’s smallest city, Hum, with a face value of 1 kuna.

In last month’s issue of Coin & Mint News, we covered five of the presentations made at the World Technical Forum 2022. In this issue, we cover the five presentations made in the second half of the Technical Forum.

Last month, we reviewed the Coin Conference held in Amsterdam in October. Alongside the main programme was a seminar dedicated to sustainability.

IMIA President Gerhard Starsich and Managing Director Martina Horakova spoke to CMN about the foundation of the new association, the role of coins in the cash cycle and how the IMIA plans to make the case for their importance, and indeed that of cash overall.

Bulgaria has signed a memorandum of understanding with the European Commission and the Eurozone group president, paving the way for the country to start minting its own euro coins once it receives approval for eurozone membership.

Consumer demand for ethically sourced and sustainable products has grown in recent years, partly as a result of a greater awareness of the impact of manufacturing upon producers but also due to increased scrutiny over the environmental impact of metals mining.

It is customary in Coin & Mint News™ sister publications – Currency News™ and Cash & Payment News™ – to round off the year with a review of the key trends and developments over the preceding 12 months.

A group of organisations from both the coin and banknote sectors have joined forces to support a first-of-its-kind in-depth study into the environmental impact of cash versus digital payments.

The Royal Mint announced a 27.3% increase in sales to £1.4 billion and pre-tax profit of £18 million for the year ending 31 March 2022, an increase of 45% over the previous year, largely due to higher precious metals sales in the UK, US and Europe.

Swissmint has announced the launch of a new alloy for its silver coins alongside the rebranding of all new collector coins under the title and brand ‘Eidgenössische Sondermünzen’ (Swiss special coins).

The 2022 Coin Conference, which took place in Amsterdam from 17-19 October, attracted 160 delegates from 45 countries and 92 organisations, including central banks, mints, academia, and industry suppliers.

Coiniverse, the mobile app platform developed by the Mint of Finland and now adopted by several mints around the world in association with the collector community, has announced the addition of its newest member mint, Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato (IPZS) – the Italian Mint.

The significant disruption of the coin supply chain in the United States as a result of the pandemic is well- documented. What is less well- documented, or even understood, is why these shortages have persisted even as economic and consumer activity have returned.

The winners of the IACA Excellence in Currency Awards for Coin 2022 were announced and presented at a special ceremony on 18 October, during the Coin Conference in Amsterdam.