Commemorative Coins

A commemorative coin must immortalize or celebrate a person, place or event in a mark-the-time sort of way. In other words, a coin celebrating the Israeli Judo Team is a special-issue coin. A coin celebrating the Israeli Judo Team’s participation in the 2006 Commonwealth Games, is a commemorative coin. Sometimes it’s a very fine line that separates the two. And sometimes special-issue and true commemorative coins get lumped together in the same category, for convenience sake. Though it’s tempting to think any special-theme, limited-issue coin is a commemorative coin, that is not the case.

In 2007, the Israel Government mint issued two special coins, each one struck in a silver and gold denomination. One of the coins shows a very artistic rendering a wolf snuggling up with a lamb, relating to the Biblical prophecy where “the wolf shall dwell with the lamb.” The second coin shows a judo combatant being flipped by his opponent, with the legend “The Olympic Delegation Of Israel, 2006.” Both of these are special-issue coins. The general public and newer coin collectors might consider both of them to be “commemorative coins.” But only the judo-theme coin is a commemorative coin.

Sub-Categories
In addition, commemorative coins are broken down into another major sub-category: circulating and non-circulating. This isn’t too complicated. Like any commemorative, circulating commemoratives have special theme designs and are struck for limited periods of time– BUT, they are released into general circulation. Non-circulating commemoratives, of course, are not released into circulation (though a few actually DO find their way into circulation) but instead are sold to collectors. An example of a circulating commemorative coin would be the U.S. Bicentennial quarters, half-dollars and dollars of 1976– all of which can turn up in your pocket change. Also remember, that though commemorative coins are usually struck in silver or gold, they can also be struck in base-metals, such as copper or nickel.

History
World commemorative coins go back to ancient times. The Greeks of Athens struck a commemorative coin celebrating their victory over the Persians. Around 42 B.C, a silver denarii was struck in Rome, commemorating “The Ides Of March,” when Julius Caesar was assassinated. But despite these sporadic ancient commemorative issues, it was really the United States that started the current trend of commemorative coins being struck at mints around the world. The United States first struck commemorative silver coins in 1892, the output of U.S commemorative half dollars picked up steam in the 1920's, and by the mid-1930's there was a deluge of U.S commemorative half dollars pouring out of the U.S. Mint. The U.S. public tired of commemorative coins, and except for a couple of issues in the 1940's and 1950's, the U.S. commemorative coin program went silent for the next 30 years.

The United States was not the only country issuing commemorative coins in the early 1900's. Great Britain struck sporadic circulating commemorative crowns in the 1930's (for instance, to celebrate their Jubilee), while in Germany, a spate of commemorative coins were being struck throughout the country as early as the 1920's.

It was around the 1960's, during the U.S. Mint’s commemorative “silent period,” that the world mints picked up on the idea of striking their OWN commemorative coins. Canada was one of the first “culprits.” Canada began striking a commemorative dollar coins with issues being struck in 1935, 1939 and 1958. Then, in 1967, the Royal Canadian Mint did something unprecedented in the history of commemorative coins. They not only struck commemorative coins honoring the country’s Centennial, but they struck a series of circulating commemorative coins in all denominations: cents, five-cents, ten-cents, twenty-five cents, fifty-cents and dollars!

Other early participants in the World commemorative coin book were Israel and Mexico, both of which struck circulating commemorative coins in the late 1950's. In fact, Israel today rivals, in fact may even surpass, Canada, as the world’s most prolific maker of commemorative coins. Then, in the 1970's, EVERYBODY wanted to get in on the act. The world mints discovered that creating commemorative coins in Uncirculated and Proof sets, was a great money-making venture. Today, many world mints look for even the slightest excuse to strike a commemorative coin for sale to the public (and yes, even the United States Mint has often been thus accused). World commemorative coins ABOUND today in a plethora of denominations, metals, and themes.

Among the world commemorative coins issued this year (2007) include:


 * 1) Australia - is issuing several circulating and non-circulating commemorative coins depicting the Sydney Harbor Bridge, which turns 75 years old this year.
 * 2) Canada - has issued a circulating 25-cent coins marking (in a forward-looking way) their participation and hosting of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.  Olympic events depicted are wheelchair curling and the biatholon.
 * 3) Mexico - continues their series honoring each of their 31 states.  2007 commemorative issues are $100 Peso coins honoring Queretaro and Quintana Roo (the latter featuring a depiction of Mayan ruins).
 * 4) Monaco - has issued a circulating $2 Euro coin marking the 25th anniversary of the death of Princess Grace.
 * 5) Poland - is issuing a circulating 2-zloty coin featuring a design commemorating the 75th anniversary of when Polish scientists unlocked the secrets of the German Enigma code machine’s first rotor.

If you haven’t added any world commemorative coins to your collection, it might be a good time to start. As most collector dollars go into U.S. coins, world commemorative coins can be found at very reasonable prices, especially on the secondary market. World commemorative coins can be quite more exotic-looking than what the U.S. collector– much more familiar with U.S. Mint products– is used to. World commemorative coins feature artistic styles, languages, denominations, and depict people, places, and even wildlife– that lie far outside the realm of what you’d ever find on a U.S. regular-issue or commemorative coin.