New Mint Issues Revealed in Berlin

By Tom Michael
The World Money Fair in Berlin, Germany, Feb. 1-3 had the character of both a trade show and a secondary market coin show. This two-tier style has been nurtured and honed to a fine experience by founder and numismatic pioneer Albert Beck. A very personable and cordial gentleman, Beck has a charmingly firm hand on the Fair and keeps things running in clockwork fashion.
To put things in perspective, imagine attending a comedy showcase featuring 22 of the world's most well known comedians, one after the other up on stage for your entertainment. Steve Martin followed by Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle, Lewis Black, Robin Williams, Steven Wright, Bill Cosby, Lee Evans, Carlos Mencia, Ellen Degeneres, Russell Peters, George Carlin. Well, you get the idea. It would never happen. To get such colleagues together for one performance, open to comparison from the audience and limited to less than 15 minutes of time each would be impossible for any show promoter to accomplish. Yet that is precisely what Beck has done in creating the World Money Fair Media Forum.
I came to Berlin, very excited about the Media Forum, expecting 16 mints to present their programs for 2008. On arrival I discovered that the forum had expanded to 22 mints, presenting in an approximate five-hour period and word was that several mints that wanted to participate had to be turned away to keep the forum time reasonable. All in all I was lucky enough to have talks with about 32 mint representatives at the World Money Fair and there were over 40 mints set up with booths on the bourse. This show is new issues nirvana.
The Media Forum takes place on the first day of the Fair, about 30 minutes after public opening of the bourse. In fact, to get off of the bourse and into the Media Forum, I had to swim upstream through crowds of collectors entering the show. When I finally go to the Media Forum room I was pleased to find that well over 200 people were milling around or seated waiting for the presentations to begin. Judging by the video and digital cameras set up in the main aisles there was plenty of coverage from the press, so I was in good company. Most of the mints had crews of three to six people in attendance and there were also collectors and general public there to see what new offering the mints would announce.
Beck opened the 2008 Media Forum with a few words of advice to the audience. To the mints Beck offered this advice: talk to collectors, learn what they want and respond to your marketplace. To collectors Beck advised: enjoy the thousands of years of numismatics available at the show and enjoy your friends in the hobby. With that, the Forum was opened. Each year Beck selects one mint as guest of honor and allows them to begin the forum and have a bit more time than any of the others. It's a rare privilege and the mints cherish the opportunity to bask in the extra limelight. This year's honored guest was China, represented by the China Gold Coin Incorporation.
China has a grand opportunity in 2008 to issue a full array of commemorative coins to celebrate the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. They have been preparing for quite some time and I have been watching their Web sites as mascots were announced and festivities were scheduled, so it was with great appreciation that I watched their segment of the Forum.
Two things struck me about their issues for 2008, first, that they are planning a Paralympic Games coin series honoring the 13th Paralympics and second that they are to issue a mammoth 10 kilogram gold coin, the first ever of this size to commemorate an Olympic competition.
Normally this alone would not have caught my attention so sharply, but I found the design of this coin so pleasing that my first thought was to nominate it for Best Gold Coin in our Coin of the Year awards for coins dated 2008.
When China's PowerPoint style presentation was finished, Beck announced next years guest of honor, the Royal Canadian Mint and a symbolic gift passed hands from China to Canada. The Royal Canadian Mint is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and had hosted a reception at Canada's Berlin embassy two nights before the Media Forum. Their program for 2008 includes a new $300 gold coin as well as gold and silver kilo coins. I believe the silver kilo coin may already be sold out and I am certain demand for Canadian commemoratives will be strong this year.
In speaking with Trish Santos, their senior marketing manager, I was most impressed at the RCM's willingness to try new avenues in coin design and packaging. It's an attitude that all mints seem currently poised to capitalize on, but the RCM has been working this angle for some time now.
The Europe Program of the European Union presented plans for coinage in 2008, along with a brief history of the programs since 2004. European Heritage is the theme for 2008 and a design contest is under way for the 2009 2-euro coin. For the month of February all EU citizens can stop by the Web site and vote for the design of their choice.
This tone of reconnecting with the collector base was very strong at the Media Forum. Beck expressed it in his introduction, and attendees could see it reverberating throughout the presentations from almost every mint, with a particularly strong statement being made by Christophe Beaux, CEO of the Monnaie de Paris.
Beaux was quite clear in expressing that Paris has reduced the number of coin types for 2008 and refocused its coinage based on collector interests. He opened the channels for cultural themes and hopes the spirit of collecting can be reinstilled in the Paris coinage programs over the next few years. This is a refreshing attitude and one that I had the pleasure of discussing with Beaux the next day at the COTY Awards ceremony. I noted with particular interest that the Media Forum crowd was very quiet and attentive for Beaux's speech. It's a good sign for the Monnaie de Paris, which has the skill and technique, but now understands their function as well.
Another presentation, which brought a pleasant surprise, came from the Japan Mint, which is embarking on a program to issue coins honoring their prefectures. At the Canadian Embassy reception I discovered that Kazuo Nitta, executive director of the mint, had a strong hand in developing this program. Though this offering follows in the footsteps of both the RCM and the United States Mint, Nitta has made an excellent addition to the Japanese program. There are 47 prefectures in Japan and each will get a copper-nickel 500-yen coin, as well as a silver coin denominated 1,000 yen. Offering the silver strikes as a separate type, instead of an off-metal strike of the circulating issue, provides numismatists and interested locals with an excellent opportunity to add to their collections. I found this a much more satisfying approach. The prefecture series will issue five copper-nickel and five silver coins per year until all 47 prefectures have been honored.
Among the many new issues coming from the Austrian Mint were additions to their excellent Railways series and Great Abbeys of Austria series, plus a series covering Celebrated Physicians of Austria and Crowns of the Hapsburgs. The Austrian Mint's emphasis is squarely on their heritage and collectors enjoy their fine design work.
Austria also made two unusual coin announcements at this Media Forum. A bimetallic coin with a green niobium center will be issued to commemorate the invention of the gaslight and the classic design of the gold bullion Vienna Philharmonic coins has been used to issue the first European silver one-ounce bullion coin denominated in euros. This is a great addition to the world's one-ounce silver bullion choices and the coin was sold for the first time on the bourse floor of the World Money Fair that very day.
Jacek Jakobczak , deputy director of the Mint of Poland displayed a number of exciting coins stuck both for Poland and several client countries. The Armenian zodiac and painters of the world series continues in 2008 as does the Andorran Extreme Sports series and color coins struck for Niue Islands. I believe Paris also has plans to issue coins in the Painters of the World series and I really love the idea that Poland is bridging the gap and encouraging joint programs between various world mints. Later in the show I had a nice conversation with Gonzalo Moreno de Alboran, commemorative coins manager for the Real Casa de la Moneda in Madrid in which he expressed interest in joint commemorative programs, perhaps even with the U.S. Mint. As a collector I love these crossovers and really like seeing the world mints getting together to satisfy their biggest supporters, numismatists.
The Royal Spanish Mint drew on their country's vast heritage in determining commemorative themes for 2008, offering 10 euro silver and 200 euro gold proofs for El Cid. Spain also plans to strike classic silver cincuenta coins denominated at 50 euro this year, in addition to coins commemorating the International Polar Year, Expo Zaragoza 2008 and their War of Independence against Napoleon. They will also release coins for King Alfonso X.
Outstanding narrative by Maruta Brukle was a highlight of the Bank of Latvia presentation. Brukle is the head of their coin division, but she displays a wonderful talent for public speaking. The technical advancement of their PowerPoint style show was as impressive as the strong heart and soul evident in their coin designs such as the Miracle of Life coin.
A newly redesigned building sets the tempo for a new track at the Royal Dutch Mint. They are planning on working with a new distributor and employing special packaging for several issues in the coming year. The RDM has also developed a very cool program to allow a photograph to be transferred to a medal. Both Dave Harper and myself took advantage of this technology later in the World Money Fair when we had our faces etched into medals as numismatic keepsakes from the show.
The British Royal Mint redesigned their logo for 2008, as well as enlisting designer John Bergdahl to give a new look to the classic Britannia motif. The BRM also displayed a great 2-pound gold coin commemorating the Centennial of the 1908 Olympics, which were held in Great Britain as an alternate site after the 1906 eruption of Mount Vesuvius forced the diverting of funds from the original site in Rome.
Portugal announced a 2-euro coin to honor the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This was a pleasant turn and I was happy to see that Portugal's themes, though graced with cultural heritage, also did not neglect the modern social concerns and advancements. In particular I was impressed with their coin issue for AMI  the International Medical Assistance program. One euro from each coin sale will go to AMI efforts. Hats off to the Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda and Antonio Verdasca for a great humanitarian effort!
In South Africa the themes centered on their wildlife preserves with more issues in the Giants of Africa series, which began in 2005. This years featured giants are the Elephants. South Africa will also issue coins in the Polar series and coins honoring Mahatma Gandhi.
Herzel Biryoti, production manager of the Israel Government Coins & Medals Corporation was staying in the same tower of the Estrel Hotel as I was, so we met several times in the elevator. Biryoti was working hard at meetings most of the time, as were most directors and marketing managers at the World Money Fair, but his hard work paid off in a tight and interesting selection of new coins for Israel in 2008. A Nobel Prize winner series is planned, as well as continued coins from the land of the Bible series. Of broad historical interest will be their next UNESCO coin featuring Masada.
Another person with whom I had a few impromptu elevator conversations was U.S. Mint Director, Edmund Moy. I met Moy for the first time at the Media Forum and immediately enjoyed his company. He has a pleasant outlook and gracious demeanor that allows both collectors and professionals to speak quite candidly with him about our hobby. To put it bluntly, Moy is genuinely interested in our thoughts and listens to our opinions. I've always found that a good approach to any endeavor.
As the U.S. Mint is finishing up the quarter program, with the last state quarters issued in 2008 and the final six territorial quarters issued in 2009, they are also gearing up for a Native American dollar coin program in 2009, a wonderful Bald Eagle coin series in 2008, and a coin honoring Louis Braille which can be read in Braille. Also new this year is a special Buffalo gold coin issue struck for the Celebration series. This coin was released a few days after the show, just in time for the Lunar New Year and given that the date ends in 8 should be considered a lucky gift for many Asian households. A certificate of authenticity bearing the signature and family chopmark of Director Moy, is included with this coin, which makes it all that much more special for the first issue in the Celebration series.
The Golden Eagle will be featured on a National Park series coin from the Swiss Mint. This is a graceful design and makes for a really lovely animal coin stuck in bimetallic form. The Swiss Mint will also be offering a coin for the Centenary of Ice Hockey and the International Year of Planet Earth. They will also begin a new series of Railway coins, the first of which will feature Vitznau-Rigi, the first mountain train in Europe.
One of the best looking large silver coins displayed in the Forum came from the Banco de Mexico. Although the Aztec calendar stone has been featured on small denomination circulating coins from Mexico in the past, this one-kilo silver proof allows perfect viewing of the finest details of this historic artifact. In speaking with Ignacio Pineda, deputy manager of coins for the bank, later in the show, it became clear that much thought and effort was put into the design, mintage and issue price of this coin.
I would not be surprised if the new silver kilo Aztec calendar stone coin sells out its 1,000 mintage quickly, so if you want one for your collection, I suggest you act now. Finding Mexican collector coins for sale around the world may also be easier in the coming year, as the bank is working on building a better and wider reaching distribution network. In the meantime, for my part, I would like to take this opportunity to nominate this coin in the Most Historical category for the Coin of the Year Awards for coins dated 2008. I found it to be an inspiration both in die work and historical significance.
The German mint program will be issuing five silver commemorative coins this year, one for each mint, as is their standard. Commemoratives will feature Max Planck, the father of quantum theory physics and author Franz Kafka among others. I really love how the German mints employ design contests to involve their collector base in the process of making commemorative coinage.
While some other mints were declaring their intent to reach out to their collector base, it seemed to me that the German mints have been doing it all along. In fact, at the Media Forum they announced that they were soliciting designs for a coin to commemorate the 12th IAAF World Championships of Athletics set for Berlin in 2009. Hats off to the German mints for knowing and respecting their collector market.
From the Mint of Finland came some very subtle additions. They will be offering their first foray into color on a legal- tender circulating coin, a 10-euro silver commemorative for Mika Waltari author of "The Egyptian" and a pair of historical coins in bimetal and gold for Veterans of the Finnish War between Russia and Sweden. Finland will also be issuing a non-circulating "cents" set for the small denomination coins that no longer are struck for circulation, but which numismatists are still wanting for their collections. In addition, the mint is opening a design competition for a new bimetallic 5 euro coin with the theme of 100 Years of Finnish Science and Research. For Sweden and Norway coins will be issued commemorating Nobel Prize winning author Selma Lagerlof and national poet Henrik Wergeland. One more bit of news from Finland is that they will be installing a new mint master in 2008 with Raimo Makkonen retiring after many years at the helm.
Banque Central de Luxembourg issued and already sold out a 25-euro European Investment Bank coin with a mintage of 4,000. They plan a 10 euro 1/3rd ounce gold Central Bank issue for their 10th anniversary, which will have a mintage of 5,000. I believe Luxembourg also acquired the contract for striking the new circulating euro coins for Cyprus and Malta, which were available at the World Money Fair in loose packs. As well as in mint and proof sets.
The Italian Mint program for 2008 will offer a wide array of 5, 10 and 20 euro commemoratives struck in silver and gold. Themes feature the great Italian Architect Andrea Palladio, the Italian Constitution, 700th anniversary of University of Perugia, 200th anniversary of Antonio Meucci - inventor of one of the earliest forms of telephone communication  and the 100th anniversary of the birth film actress Anna Magnani. In the European Arts series Italy will issues a 20-euro gold proof for the Netherlands and a 50-euro gold proof for Portugal.
The final presentation of the Media Forum came from KOMSCO, the Korean Minting & Security Printing Corporation. They chose to highlight improvements and changes to their company and gave the audience a look at their organization including their monetary plant in Gyeongsan, their Paper Money plant in Buyeo and their distribution facilities in Daejeon and Seoul.
KOMSCO with be hosting the 25th Mint Directors Conference next year in Korea. The bank note end of KOMSCO's business was proud to announce that two new high-denomination bank notes will be issued in 2009; a gray 100,000 won and a yellow 50,000 won.