The granddaughter of an early polar explorer has attended a ceremony to mark the launch of the first Antarctic coin. The coin has been created by the Pobjoy Mint in Kingswood, Surrey, to commemorate the centenary of the Granting of Letters Patent in 1908 when the UK first claimed the British Antarctic Territory.

The striking ceremony was attended by Philippa Foster Back, chairwoman of the United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust, whose grandfather Frank Debenham accompanied Robert Falcon Scott’s Antarctic Terra Nova Expedition to the South Pole from 1910 to 1913.

The £2 coin, which has been issued on behalf of the British Antarctic Territory, features the territory’s coat of arms which includes a lion standing on grass to represent the UK and an emperor penguin standing on ice to represent the native wildlife of Antarctica.

It is the first ever legal tender commemorative coin issued by the British Antarctic Territory, making it the world’s first Antarctic coin. (more…)

The Abbey of Klosterneuburg

When one travels down the Danube, whether by river or by land, just before reaching Vienna one encounters the town of Klosterneuburg nestling around the ancient abbey on the heights overlooking the Danube Valley. Since the year 1114 canons regular have been living here according to the Rule of St. Augustine. This abbey is the fifth coin in the Austrian Mint’s silver series “Great Abbeys of Austria” and will be issued on 16th April, 2008.

The Augustinian abbey of Klosterneuburg was founded in 1114 by Margrave Leopold III (who was subsequently canonised and ranks as the patron saint of Austria). The famous legend is that Leopold’s wife, Agnes, lost a precious scarf in the wind which Leopold himself found some years later while hunting. A vision of the Virgin Mary is supposed to have instructed him to found an abbey on that spot. The legend is, of course, romance, although the scarf does still exist in actual fact. St. Leopold is buried in the crypt of the church under the winged altar known as the Verduner Altar, consisting of some 45 gilded and enamelled panels with scenes from the Bible and dating from the end of the 12th century.

The abbey almost died out in the time of the Reformation, but was restored and invigorated by Provost Caspar Christiani (1578-1584). In 1683 Turkish troops besieging Vienna also attacked Klosterneuburg, but Provost William Lebsaft together with the canons and townspeople managed to repulse them without outside assistance.
(more…)

2008 $25 Sterling Silver Hologram Coin - Freestyle Skiing

LIMITED TO 45,000 COINS WORLDWIDE

Freestyle skiing began in the 1960’s when social change and freedom of expression led to new and exciting skiing techniques. Originally a mix of alpine skiing and acrobatics, the first competition was held in New Hampshire in 1966. The sport became an Olympic medal event in 1992 in Albertville, and only two years later in Lillehammer, Canadians won gold in moguls, and silver and bronze medals at the first aerials event.
CITIUS, ALTIUS, FORTIUS, (Faster, Higher, Stronger)

These three words, comprising the motto of the Olympic movement, encourage the athlete in all of us to give our best during competition, and to view this effort as its own victory.

The Olympic Games have a 3,000 year history of bringing people together to give their best in competition. The Winter Games are the cold-weather complement to the original Olympic Summer Games. Held every four years, the Olympic Winter Games feature winter sports, all of which are held on ice or snow.

The only Olympic Winter Games held in Canada was in 1988, in the city of Calgary, Alberta. In 2010, Canada will proudly host the XXI Olympic Winter Games, this time in Vancouver, British Columbia let the Games begin!
(more…)

The National Bank of Poland has introduced new two-zlotys, 20-zlotys and 200-zlotys coins commemorating the 65th anniversary of the Jewish Ghetto Uprising in Warsaw in 1943.

NBP Chairman will present the new coins to the Polish and Israeli Presidents Lech Kaczynski and Simon Peres at a special ceremony in the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Tuesday.

The two zloty coin will be on sale today, and the 20-zlotys and 200-zlotys coins will be available at NBP branches tomorrow.

The new 200-zlotys coin will be minted in 12,000 pieces. The reverse bears the face of a man in a hat hiding behind a fragment of a brick wall. The obverse shows a burning house and the Polish national emblem - the white eagle with a brick wall in the background.

The 20-zlotys coin minted in silver in 14,5000 pieces will show the Star of David against a brick wall backdrop on the reverse and a tree, and the other side will show loose bricks and flames surrounding the Polish eagle.

The two zloty coin minted in Nordic Gold alloy in 1.75 million copies shows barbed wire in the shape of the Star of David and the face of a girl wearing a beret on the reverse. (mj)

Santa Fe, NM - New Mexico, the “Land of Enchantment,” marked the release of its commemorative quarter-dollar into circulation at a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda in Santa Fe today. United States Mint Director Ed Moy joined Governor Bill Richardson in handing out shiny New Mexico quarter-dollars to children under 18 who attended the launch. The Santa Fe All-Stars entertained the crowd.

“The New Mexico quarter’s Zia sun symbol design speaks to your State’s history and diversity,” Director Moy told the crowd. “Your quarter will be immediately recognizable and serve New Mexico as an ambassador to the Nation.”

The New Mexico quarter-dollar goes into circulation across the country today. The United States Mint estimates it will produce about 500 million New Mexico quarters. After the ceremony, the public lined up to be among the first to exchange their bills for $10 rolls of New Mexico quarters.

On the eve of the launch, the public attended a free Coin Collectors Forum at the National Hispanic Cultural Center of New Mexico in Albuquerque, hosted by Director Moy. The forum provided an opportunity for the public to let United States Mint officials know what they would like to see on U.S. coinage in the future. (more…)