Новости нумизматики и коллекционирования

Pope John XXIII (25 November 1881 – 3 June 1963) and Pope John Paul II (18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) reigned as popes of the Roman Catholic Church and the sovereigns of Vatican City (respectively from 1958 to 1963 and 1978 to 2005). Their canonizations were held on 27 April 2014. The decision to canonize was made official by Pope Francis on 5 July 2013 following the recognition of a miracle attributed to the intercession of John Paul II, while John XXIII was canonized for his merits of opening the Second Vatican Council. The date of the canonization was assigned on 30 September 2013.

The Canonization Mass was celebrated by Pope Francis (with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI concelebrating), on Sunday 27 April 2014 (Divine Mercy Sunday), in St. Peter's Square (Pope John Paul had died on the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday in 2005).About 150 Cardinals and 700 bishops concelebrated the Mass, and at least 500,000 people attended the mass with an estimated 300,000 others watching from video screens placed around Rome.

Obverse: Coat of Arms
Reverse: Pope John Paul II

The coin from the series "History of Polish Coin" commemorating the history of the Polish mint art dedicated to the "Bracteate of Mieszko III the Old".

The obverse of the coin features an image of Mieszko III the Old  taken from the drawing depicted on a paten (app. 1180) given by the King to the Cistercian monastery in Ląd, and an obverse of a contemporary 10 zloty coin.

The reverse of the coin depicts an image of a denarius of Mieszko III the Old with an inscription written in Hebrew alphabet. On the right, along the rim – an inscription: BRAKTEAT MIESZKA III STAREGO (the name of the coin in Polish). Design: Dominika Karpińska-Kopiec

Issued coins from this series: Denarius of Boleslaw Chrobry, Denarius of Boleslaw II the Bold, Boleslaw the Wry-Mouthed – denarius, cat. 2.

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit was born on May 24th, 1686 in Gdansk. He was a Prussian physicist and the inventor of measuring instruments.

Fahrenheit was the first scientist who succeeded in creating a calibrated thermometer. It was this calibration which allowed the serial production of  thermometers. The temperature unit «degrees Fahrenheit» was named after him.

On September 16th, 1736 the scientist died at the age of only fifty.

Working thermometer, see below for video of companion Celsius piece demonstrating how the coin works.

The economic hardships of the Great Depression had left Canada's military undermanned and unprepared for the onset of war, and its equipment was at risk of being outdated.

Thanks to a national recruitment drive, over 58,000 men and women enlisted by the month's end. Coastal defences were reinforced, militia regiments were mobilized and the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) – which would eventually train nearly half of the Commonwealth's air crews on Canadian soil–was implemented. In December, units of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division set sail from Halifax to Britain–the first wave of Canadians who would serve overseas until the war's end in 1945.

Meanwhile, Canada's economy adapted quickly to the war effort and transformed the country into an economic power. New industries were created while existing factories converted to the production of wartime materials. Thousands of airplanes, ships, vehicles, guns and ammunition would be produced by factories in Canada, which became the fourth largest supplier among the Allied countries.

Coin presents a side-profile of a Canadian machine gun regiment during training. At left, a private is seated as he steadies a tripod-mounted Vickers machine gun, while a sergeant stands above him and directs the private's attention to a target in the distance.  The obverse features the effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by Susanna Blunt.

Gods of Ancient Greece - Athena is the third in a 5-coin series from New Zealand Mint. 

The design for this 2 oz rectangular Silver coin has been inspired by classical Greek art, sculpture and architecture. In Greek mythology, Athena was the Goddess of Wisdom, Courage, Civilization, Law, and Justice. In addition, she was renowned as the God of Just Warfare, of Mathematics, and the Arts.

Obverse features the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

This high relief, rectangular reverse, channels classical and renaissance paintings and sculptures of this iconic God of Ancient Greece. The Goddess Athena is classically engraved standing, as records say she once was depicted in Phidias’ gold and ivory statue, which once stood in the Parthenon. Wearing a full length gown and armour, with her helmet raised high on her forehead and a spear in her hand, Athena symbolises truth and justice.

This brilliant 25-cent pure gold coin honours the mysterious grizzly bear, an animal with a uniquely varied set of behaviours.

The grizzly bear is one of the strongest mammals to inhabit Canada's western provinces. As a symbol of Canada's wilderness, it is an imposing animal that has been both feared and revered throughout history.

Gold coin is the fourth in our best-selling series of 11-millimetre gold coins.

Obverse: Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, in profile facing right. This portrait, the fourth effigy of the queen to appear on Canadian coinage, was executed by the artist Susanna Blunt. The legend ELIZABETH II D. G. REGINA ("Elizabeth II, Queen by the Grace of God") also appears.

Reverse: A realistic, intricately detailed, frosted cameo bust portrait by wildlife artist Emily Damstra (rendered in exceptional detail despite the coin’s small size) depicts a splendid side profile of a majestic adult grizzly bear. The denomination and date of issue also appear.

The Royal Dutch Mint have issued a special medal in honor of the “Copper” wedding anniversary of the King & Queen of the Netherlands. 

The anniversary, which celebrates the 12 ½ year wedding anniversary of the pair who were married on the 2^nd February 2002, is exactly half of what may be their silver anniversary, which would be in 2027. Traditionally, the copper year of marriage falls either on the 7^th (US) or the 9^th (UK) years but as copper is also placed behind silver as a means of precedence, it only seemed appropriate to mark 12 ½ years with this novel designation!

His Royal Highness, the Prince of Orange married his fiancée Miss Maxima Zorreguieta, a native of Argentina and former investment banker who met the Prince in 1999. They were married in Amsterdam in a ceremony attended by many crowned heads of state as well as Dutch dignitaries. Their first child, Princess Catharina Amalia arrived in a year and a half later followed by two more daughters. King Willem-Alexander succeeded to the Dutch Throne on the 30^th April 2013 after the abdication of his mother, the much-lived Queen Beatrix after a reign of 33 years exactly, he is the country’s first king in 123 years. Upon his accession, Crown Princess Maxima became Queen consort, the country’s first female consort since 1890.

The medal, designed by Elles Kloosterman includes informal profiles of both King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima facing to the right with a commemorative inscription in Dutch above and below the two portraits. The reverse includes the wedding date and anniversary date along with crowned conjoined monograms of the Royal couple intertwined with wedding rings.

The Royal Canadian Mint has released the 14th coin in what is potentially their most beloved Birds of Canada series! This stunning 25-cent cupronickel coin boasts a beautiful depiction of the elusive yet dazzling Scarlet Tanager, one of Canada’s most rarely-seen Eastern forest dwellers.

The glorious scarlet tanager is one of the easiest birds to identify across the mixed forests of eastern Canada. The male is especially impressive with its striking scarlet body, black wings and black tail. The females are yellow-green with grey-black wings. This beautiful bird changes colour for its winter migration to South America. The male's late-summer moult results in a significant transformation as he trades his crimson plumage for the same olive-yellow tint as the female, but keeps his black wings and tail.

Reverse features a full-body colour portrait of a male scarlet tanager lifting off from a bough of bright green oak leaves, as it spreads its wings and tail-feathers to stunning effect. The intense red colouring of its small, round body is intensified by the shiny blue-black of its wings and tail. Its small beak and bright black eyes seem to be fixed on invisible prey hovering just beyond the coin's right edge. The bird's glinting feathers and the delicately textured oak leaves are rendered in exquisite detail.

The National Bank of Ukraine has put into circulation the commemorative coin, dedicated to the children born under the sign of Virgo in Children Zodiac series.

Obverse: above there is the Small Coat of Arms of Ukraine with the semicircular inscription НАЦІОНАЛЬНИЙ БАНК УКРАЇНИ (National Bank of Ukraine); below there is the coin face value ДВІ ГРИВНІ (two hryvnias) under the conventionalized composition - against the background of the sky of stars there are the images of Zodiac signs, Moon and Sun; the coin issue year indication 2014 and the mark of the National Bank of Ukraine Mint are to the right, while to the left there is the indication of metal, its fineness and weight Ag 925/7,78.

On the coin reverse there is the conventionalized composition: to the left, on the lusterless surface, there is the sign of Virgo; in the center there is depicted a little girl on the grass; above there is the inscription ДІВЧАТКО (little girl).

This bright, brilliantly-illustrated coin is part of a series from the Royal Canadian Mint that celebrates the beauty of autumn. Although the chill of a crisp September wind blowing through our cities and towns at the end of the summer harkens to the inevitable start of a long, cold winter, it is impossible to be gloomy when surrounded by the beauty of a Canadian autumn. Already-impressive trees are painted in dazzling shades of red, yellow and orange-gold that creates a visual symphony of colour and texture that is breathtaking to behold.

It's a second coin series of coloured and engraved silver coins celebrating autumn! Using advanced engraving techniques, the silver is artistically integrated into the composition, bringing the image’s engraved trees and water to life against a gorgeous coloured backdrop of oranges, yellows, greys, and greens.

The reverse image by Canadian artist Tony Bianco features a striking autumn scene in a Canadian forest. In the foreground, clusters of golden-orange sugar maple leaves frame the right and left sides of the composition. In the background, a fast-rushing tiered waterfall–engraved directly into the silver–cascades down a sloping grey rock face carpeted in green moss and fallen maple leaves. The waterfall leads to an engraved silver brook rushing over a rock-strewn riverbed. At the top of the rock face, the tall tree trunks of a deciduous forest are lent mystical beauty through engraving that evokes the sun’s rays falling through a forest still densely canopied in early autumn. The design uses a combination of colour, the silver coin surface and engraving to create a homogenous and painterly images.