News in Brief

New Coins for the Cayman Islands

Following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, the currency of the Cayman Islands is set to be phased out and replaced with banknotes and coins featuring the effigy of King Charles III. The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) is currently in the process of redesigning the territory’s banknotes and is seeking public input on new themes intended for use on the updated notes.

The CIMA has confirmed that the coin designs will remain the same, with the only exception being that the portrait of the new King will replace that of the late Queen on the obverse.

TRM Pride Commemorative Coin Award Finalist

Launched last year to celebrate 50 Years of Britain’s LGBTQ+ community and of Pride UK, The Royal Mint’s commemorative 50p coin has now been selected as a finalist in the 2023 Brand & Lifestyle Licensing Awards, in the Inspired Innovation Brand Licensed Product or Range Award category.

Designed by artist, writer and LGBTQ+ activist Dominique Holmes, the coin marked the first time Britain’s LGBTQ+ community has been honoured on a UK coin. The reverse of the coin features the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II and the obverse features arched rainbows with the words ‘protest’, ‘pride’, ‘visibility’, ‘unity’, and ‘equality’, and chevrons at the bottom. The coloured version of the coin features the arched rainbows in the colours of the pride flag, with the chevrons in the colours of the progress pride flag.

The award winners are set to be announced at the end of April.

No NFT for UK

Andrew Griffith, the UK’s Economic Secretary to the Treasury, has confirmed that the government has decided not to proceed with proposed plans to create a non-fungible token (NFT). Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, then the Chancellor and in charge of the Treasury, asked The Royal Mint to create an NFT last April, saying that it ‘shows the forward-looking approach we are determined to take towards cryptoassets in the UK’.

Now, in response to a question from Conservative MP Harriett Baldwin, Griffith has said; ‘In consultation with HM Treasury, the Royal Mint is not proceeding with the launch of a non-fungible token at this time but will keep this proposal under review’.

Fake Provenance of One of the World’s Most Expensive Coins

In October 2020, an Eid Mar (Ides of March) Brutus Aureus coin was sold at auction for a world record price of nearly $4.2 million. The coin was struck in 42 BC following the assassination of Roman ruler Julius Caesar in 44 BC, and depicts a pileus, or cap of liberty, between two daggers on the reverse. The obverse features a portrait of the aforementioned Brutus.

According to Numismatic News at the time, the coin is only the third known example in gold featuring this design. It is therefore an extremely rare and valuable coin, with the other two known examples currently located at the British Museum and Deutsche Bundesbank.

Whilst the authentication of the coin seems to have been confirmed, doubts about the validity of its provenance (or lack thereof) have led to several criminal charges and the seizure of both this coin and another – a Sicilian Naxos tetradrachm sold for around $292,000. A spokesperson for New York’s Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has said that both coins will be repatriated to their home countries ¹.

Mixed Results for February Bullion Sales

According to the Perth Mint’s latest monthly update, February sales of Australian silver bullion increased by 20% compared to the previous month, whereas sales of minted gold coins and bars fell by 19% in the same period. The gold monthly level is the lowest since October 2020, although the monthly average sales are relatively stable.

‘While still buoyant in historical terms, the result to some extent reflected the fact that we did not unveil any new gold investor coins during the month’, said Neil Vance, General Manager Minted Products. The Mint also noted that ‘on the other hand, silver sales bounced higher, with available press time fully utilised over the course of the period. As a result, the Mint shipped everything it produced in February’.

In contrast, total gold holdings in The Perth Mint Depository increased by 0.80%, while silver holdings dropped by 0.29% during the month.

New Caribbean Guilder On the Way

The Central Bank of Curaçao and St Maarten (CBCS) has said it expects that the introduction of the new Caribbean guilder will be completed in the second half of 2024. The new currency will replace the Netherlands Antillean guilder that has been in circulation since 1952.

Stocks of the various denominations of banknotes and coins of the existing currency are running low, the designs and features are dated and the original banknote supplier has exited the market. Hence the decision to take the opportunity to introduce not just new notes and coins but a new currency, which will be pegged to the US dollar and issued at par with the Dutch Antilles guilder.

It is not yet known what the new Caribbean guilder notes and coins will look like, but they will be issued in denominations of 200, 100, 50 guilders, 20 and 10 guilder banknotes, and 5 and 1 guilder and 50, 25, 20, 10, 5 and 1 cent coins.

1 - www.nytimes.com/2023/03/22/arts/design/rare-coin-returned-greece-eid-mar.html