U.S. coins win top awards at World Money Fair
- Published: Feb 23, 2017, 7 AM
United States coins had a strong showing at the World Money Fair, taking home a pair of Coin of the Year design awards.
Two coins issued by the United States Mint in 2015 won Coin of the Year awards at the 2017 Berlin show that took place Feb. 3 to 5. The Best Circulating Coin went to the America the Beautiful quarter honoring Kisatchie National Forest, and the Most Inspirational Coin award was given to the March of Dimes commemorative silver dollar.
The United States was one of two countries — the other being Finland — to take home two 2017 Coin the Year awards, which pull from a worldwide crop of coins issued in calendar year 2015.
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“The designers, sculptors and engravers of the Mint comprise the very best talent in the numismatic industry,” U.S. Mint acting principal deputy director David Motl said. “Artists are an indispensable part of the coin production process and the Mint congratulates them on this well-deserved recognition.”
Countries other than the United States and Finland whose coins won awards were Italy, Japan, Canada, Great Britain, Austria and the Cook Islands.
Kisatchie National Forest quarter
The America the Beautiful quarter dollar honoring Kisatchie National Forest was launched into circulation in April 2015.
Opposite the quarter’s standard Washington obverse design, the coin’s reverse features a wild turkey in flight over bluestem grass with longleaf pine in the background. The design is by Susan Gamble, who was part of the U.S. Mint's Artistic Infusing Program from 2004 until her death in 2015.
Joseph Menna sculptured the design.
March of Dimes silver dollar
The March of Dimes silver dollar was issued in 2015 to honor the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the March of Dimes Foundation, an organization that was started in 1940 to fight the polio epidemic and continues today its mission of protecting childrens’ health.
The coin's reverse, which features an infant sleeping in the hand of an adult, was designed and sculpted by sculptor-engraver Don Everhart.
The obverse of the coin features the profiles of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dr. Jonas Salk, two leaders in the fight against polio, and was designed by Paul Balan, a member of the AIP, and sculptured by Mint sculptor-engraver Michael Gaudioso.
About the Coin of the Year awards
Coin of the Year awards have been given out since 1984 by World Coin News, which seeks to recognize the best in coin art and push mints all over the world to keep pumping out great coin designs.
The 2017 awards were given during a ceremony Feb. 4.
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