News from the world of numismatics
The winners of the 2025 Coin of the Year competition were announced on 21 August 2025. In May this year, the COTY Nomination Committee chose 10 coins in each category, the so-called COTY 100, from among the 550 coins entered in the competition. Our own highlights among this year’s prize winners are:
Supernova 20-euro silver coin
Issued by the Austrian Mint Münze Österreich, this won both the ‘Coin of the Year’ award and ‘Most Artistic Coin’. This coin is the first in a new series called ‘The Beauty of the Universe’. The coin edge is wavy, while the reverse is concave and the obverse convex. The reverse shows the Crab Nebula located 6,500 light years from Earth, the remnants of the supernova first observed in 1054, with a size of around 11 x 7 light years. NGC 19522 refers to the catalogue designation of the Crab Nebula. In the centre of the coin is the Crab Pulsar, a source of cosmic radiation. The obverse features a coloured illustration of the Crab Nebula, based on an image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Münze Österreich also won the prize for ‘Most Historically Significant Coin’ with its ‘Salt Mining’ coin, and ‘Best Bi-Metallic Coin’ with the 25-euro niobium ‘Edaphon’ coin.
Cabbage 5-euro silver coin from Latvia
The Cabbage 5-euro silver coin, issued in December 2024, won the Best Silver Coin prize. The obverse features a head of cabbage, seen from above, and the inscription LATVIJA / 5 EURO. The reverse shows the same head of cabbage from below, and the year of issue, 2024.
25-euro silver coin ‘Notre-Dame – Microchip’
Winner of the ‘Most Innovative Coin’ award. This coin, issued to commemorate the reopening of Notre Dame cathedral, has a microchip which, when scanned from a smartphone, enables the owner to log in and receive a digital certificate of ownership. The chip also provides access to exclusive additional content dedicated to the Notre-Dame de Paris collection accessible from the ‘Monnaie de Paris mes E-monnaies’ App.
Other news from the world of coin collecting
The United States Mint has announced the next six DC superheroes for the Comic Art and Medal Program. For 2026, they are Supergirl, Robin and Green Lantern, followed in 2027 by The Flash, Batgirl and Aquaman. Each superhero embodies timeless American values – courage, optimism, loyalty and honour; these values are reflected in the officially licensed collector’s coins with heroic details and original works of art in high relief.
On 8 July 2025, the Royal Mint added to its Music Legends series by celebrating the 50th anniversary of iconic heavy metal band Iron Maiden with special coins that were designed in close collaboration with the band.