New Coin Issues

South Africa to Circulate Multilingual Coins

Earlier this year, the Cabinet of South Africa announced their approval of proposed changes to the country’s coinage, which will involve all 11 official languages featuring on its coins on an annual rotating basis. The programme is scheduled to run over the next 10 years.

Although the current 1, 2 and 5 rand coins have featured the country’s name in two languages on a rotating basis since 2002, all coins in the series will feature varying languages. Three languages will feature on the 5 rand coin; two on the 2 rand, 50, 20 and 10 cent coins, with one language only featuring on the 1 rand coin.

TRM Celebrates 25 Years of £2 Coin

The Royal Mint has launched a special collectable £2 coin to celebrate twenty-five years of the bi-metallic £2 coin.

The £2 became the largest circulating coin denomination in the UK following minting in 1997 and introduction the year after, and the new collectible features the original ‘Technology’ design by artist Bruce Rushin. A latent feature has been added to the design to reveal the number ‘25’ within the central cog when it catches the light, representing the evolution of minting technology at The Royal Mint.

This edition bears the fifth coinage portrait of the late Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse, the first time in the history of the £2 coin that the definitive portrait by Jody Clark features on the opposite side of the ‘Technology’ design.

New Liberian Coins Enter Circulation

The Central Bank of Liberia has released two new coins into circulation as part of the new family of Liberian dollar currency, marking the replacement of the two smallest banknote denominations with coins.

Both coins – the $5 and $10 – feature a latent image of the denomination on the obverse, which shifts to a symbol of the country’s ‘star’ when viewed from a different angle. Continuing the theme, the reverse of each coin features a map of Liberia with ‘Lone Star Forever’ written above. The denomination is also marked on top of the image of the map.

The obverse of both coins portray an image of former Presidents of the country, with the $5 depicting President Edward James Roye, while the $10 features President Joseph Jenkins Roberts.

The coins were produced by the UK’s Royal Mint.

New Commemorative Coin from Algeria

The Central Bank of Algeria issued a commemorative 50 dinar coin marking the 31st Ordinary Session of the Council of the League of Arab States, which was held in the country at the beginning of this month. It has also issued a commemorative 2,000 dinar banknote.

The coin depicts the image and name of Hassiba Ben Bouali, a leader and fighter in the Algerian War of Independence. It also features the years of her birth and death either side of the portrait, as well as the current year in both the Gregorian and Hijri calendars.

Tribute to an Inventor and Innovator

The Royal Canadian Mint has issued a new $1 circulating coin marking the 175th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Graham Bell, who was living in Canada at the time of his best-known invention, the telephone. He also invented a hydrofoil, which at the time was the world’s fastest marine vessel, as well as Canada’s first- ever manned powered aircraft.

The Alexander Graham Bell circulation coin is limited to a mintage of three million coins, of which two million feature a colour enhancement. It will reach Canadians through their change as bank branches and businesses replenish their inventories of $1 circulation coins.

US Mint Releases Fifth Coin in AWQ Program 2022

The US Mint has released the fifth and final coin in the 2022 American Women Quarters Program, with a further five coins scheduled for release next year (see CMN October).

The coin honours Anna May Wong, the first Chinese American movie star in Hollywood, who appeared in more than 60 movies, including silent films and one of the first made in technicolor. She also appeared in productions on the London and New York stages.

© The United States MInt.

As with all other coins in the series, the obverse depicts a portrait of George Washington, originally composed and sculpted by Laura Gardin Fraser to mark Washington’s 200th birthday. The reverse of the coin features a close-up image of Anna May Wong with her head resting on her hand, surrounded by markings representative of the bright lights of a marquee sign.

The design was produced by US Mint Artistic Infusion Program Designer Emily Damstra and sculpted by Medallic Artist John McGraw.