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Upper Middle Rhine Valley on Germany’s gold 100-euro coin in 2015

The Upper Middle Rhine Valley is the subject for the 2015 release in Germany’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites program of Proof gold 100-euro coins.

Images courtesy of the German Federal Ministry of Finance.

The Upper Middle Rhine Valley is Germany's selection as the theme of its 2015 gold €100 coin in the annual UNESCO World Heritage series.

The announcment was made June 4 by the Bundesministerium der Finanzen (the German Federal Ministry of Finance). The coin will be issued in October 2015, according to the announcement. 

The .9999 fine gold coin will be the 12th in the series honoring UNESCO World Heritage sites in Germany. Other subjects in the program, which began in 2003, include the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (2007) and the Aachen Cathedral (2012).

The Upper Middle Rhine Valley was added to the UNESCO list in June 2002 for its “cultural landscape of great diversity and beauty,” according to a translation of the announcement from Germany's Federal Ministry of Finance.

The chosen coin design is by artist Friedrich Brenner. It shows a bird’s-eye view of the site, which is found between the towns and cities of Bingen, Rüdesheim and Koblenz. The Rhine River cuts through the scene, which appears as a topographical landscape.

This is “a very impressive approach,” according to the jury that selected the design. 

The reverse shows the federal eagle, face value, 2015 and a Mint mark; the Proof gold €100 coin is struck by all five German mints in equal proportion. An A Mint mark represents the Berlin facility, while D indicates Munich's. Stuttgart-struck coins bear an F, and coins of Karlsruhe have a G. The J Mint mark, as on the coin image shown, indicates a coin struck in Hamburg.

The coins in this program weigh 15.5 grams and measure 28 millimeters in diameter. The edge is milled. 


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