By Doug Andrews, World Coin News
Celebration of the centennial of the Royal Canadian Mint in the summer of 2008 may cause numismatists to reflect on the years of diplomatic wrangling and political infighting that surrounded its establishment. Now one of the most successful and modern mints in the world, its founding in 1908 was the culmination of nearly two decades of argument among Canadian parliamentarians, and negotiations between officials in Canada and the United Kingdom.

As early as 1890 members of the Canadian Senate from British Columbia began lobbying the Conservative and later, the Liberal, governments in Ottawa for opening a mint in Vancouver. Gold recently had been discovered in the nearby Fraser River Valley, and a tiny group of politicians led by Senator Thomas McInnes tried to persuade the cabinet to fund construction of a mint to assay and refine gold, produce ingots and strike gold into coins. In March, McInnes boldly introduced the following motion to the Senate, “Resolved as to the opinion of this House that it is both desirable and expedient that the government should immediately pass a coinage act and establish a mint.”

Gold miners and speculators in British Columbia saw the opening of a mint as an opportunity to increase their profits by reducing the costs of exporting gold to the United States for refining. However, the Conservative Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, opposed the measure championed by McInnes, a Liberal, and it went down to defeat. Macdonald, then in declining health, had focused this agenda on protectionism rather than foreign trade, and a mint to increase profits from exportation of gold did not fit into his plans.

Read Full Numismaster Article

LANDMARK SALE OF RARE POLISH COINS TO BE HELD BY STACK’S IN CHICAGO, APRIL 24

NEW YORK – On January 14, a Polish 1621 gold 100 Ducat coin sold for $1.38 Million, setting a world’s record price for a non-U.S. coin. Sold by Stack’s, one of the oldest and most successful rare coin Auction Houses in the U.S., in its Kroisos Collection Sale, the coin was struck to commemorate Poland’s victory over the Ottoman Turks in the famed Battle of Chocim.

Now, Stack’s is set to sell one of the most important collections of rare Polish coins to be offered in public auction in the U.S. To be sold April 24, 2008 in Chicago, the Belzberg Collection of Select Polish Rarities is valued at several million dollars. And bidding is expected to be intense for, along with Russian coins, Polish coins rank as the hottest item in the world numismatic market today.

The sale, though, does not just present an offering of rare and unique coins, it is also a numismatic chronicle of the history of the Polish nation. Beginning with the first Polish coin ever struck, a Silver Denar of Mieszko I Piast (960-992) the sale runs up the timeline to a unique and colossal Gold Million Z?otych – all 12 ounces of it –struck by the private Solidarity mint in 1999 to honor Fryderyk Chopin. Among the many highlights of the sale are a Gold 50 Ducat and a unique Silver 10 Talary – the largest Silver coin ever struck in Poland, both made as presentation pieces to mark the Battle of Chocim (one of the 100 Ducat coins of 1621 was presented by Sigismund III Vasa to the Pope). Polish cities and ducal fiefdoms are also represented by coins from Danzig, Toru?, Courland, Stettin and other Silesian and Pomeranian locales. Lithuanian coins from the time of the Commonwealth include a 16th Century Silver coin of Naples sent to Poland as part of the inheritance of Sigismund II August from his mother Bona Sforza that was stamped to pay Sigismund the Second’s troops fighting in the Livonian War.

Of true historic note is a majestic Presentation Set of 24 Silver Medals of the Polish kings (from Bo?eslaw I Chobry to Poniatowski) commissioned in the 1790’s by King Stanis?aw August Poniatowski. The set was presented in 1814 to Henry Brougham, an English lawyer, journalist and abolitionist by Poles in Exile for his service in pleading the cause of the Polish people (Brougham later served as the British Lord Chancellor).

For further information, please contact Gregory Cole, Stack’s World Coin Department, at 212-582-2580.

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…)

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)

By RHODRI PHILLIPS and SIMON MCGEE - Daily Mail UK: Britannia could return to the nation’s coins, a senior adviser to the Royal Mint has said. The ancient symbol was missing when the first new set of British coins for nearly 40 years was unveiled last week.

However, John Porteous, of the Royal Mint Advisory Committee on Coin Design, said she could appear on the £2 coin when it is next redesigned.

The £2 was the only one of Britain’s eight circulating coins not to have undergone a redesign in the revamp. But a new £2 coin is likely to be issued with a new design within the next two years, according to Mr Porteous.

When he was confronted by The Mail on Sunday’s Britannia on his doorstep last week, the coin expert invited her in for a coffee and discussed her future.

“I’m absolutely sure you won’t be made redundant,” he told her.

We revealed in January that Britannia would not appear on any new British coins for the first time in 336 years. (She does feature on a silver bullion £2 coin struck by the Mint, but this is a collector’s item and is not in circulation.) Read Full Story from the Daily Mail