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¹ 5 October 2009
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The Gold Chervonets
THE NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS OF “COIN CONSTELLATION-2009” INCREASED
The present Competition has achieved a record in the number of coins submitted  A competition held for the third time is a tradition already. It is already serious. “Coin Constellation-2009” stepped over the bounds of the CIS and Europe, having enlarged its geography dramatically to compare with the previous years. And the number of coins submitted increased more than twice to compare with “Coin Constellation-2008”; in comparison with “Coin Constellation-2007” it grew four times already. These are quantitative indexes. As for the qualitative ones, i.e. the coins which won in their categories, the readers of The Gold Chervonets may see and evaluate them. The winners of the “Coin Constellation-2009” Commemorative Coin Competition were named in September. The Award Ceremony took place in Saint-Petersburg.
A successful experiment
“Coin Constellation” was started as an experiment. Commemorative coin competitions had never been held within the territory of Russia before. Moreover, the situation with the market of commemorative coins was not completely clear, for the market existed, but it went its own way. The majority of people believed that commemorative coins were interesting only to numismatists, their number was small, and they were very far away from ordinary people.
But the first pancake was not lumpy in 2007. And though only 47 coins were submitted to the Competition, and they represented only 11 countries (the CIS and the Baltic States), the start itself was important. Next year already 80 coins from 15 countries took part in the Competition. Denmark, Spain, Poland, Finland and Bulgaria were added to Russia and its neighboring countries. The results of “Coin Constellation-2008” were announced within the framework of the Commemorative Coin Conference “COINS-2008”, which took place in June 2008 in Saint-Petersburg (by the way, the Watermark Publishing House, which holds the “Coin Constellation” Competition and publishes The Watermark and The Gold Chervonets magazines, was its organizer).
Statistics-2009
And now the time has come to summarize the results of “Coin Constellation-2009”. There were 176 coins already. 24 participants representing 21 countries submitted applications.
According to the rules of “Coin Constellation”, coins put into circulation since January 1 till December 31, 2008 could take part in the Competition. National banks, mints as well as retailing companies had the right to introduce coins to the Competition. The winners were chosen by the Competition Committee, which consisted of representatives of the Russian and European museums (including the State Hermitage, the State History Museum of Russia, the British Museum, Vienna’s Museum of Art History etc.), commercial banks, numismatic societies, as well as mass media.
According to the tradition, the winners were named in the six major categories:
• Unique conceptual solution
• Successful artistic solution
• Original technology
• Silver coin of the year
• Gold coin of the year
• Coin of the year
Moreover, the winner of the prize “For contribution to the development of the market of coins of precious metals” was determined.
Moreover, the Organizational Committee presented its Special Prize.
According to the voting results at www.coinconference.com the winner of the People’s Choice Award was named.
The unique conceptual solution
 In 2009 the coin submitted by the Bank of Lithuania – “Europe. The European Cultural Heritage” was the winner of this category. The silver coin with the face-value of 50 Lits was struck at the Lithuanian Mint in the number of 10 000 pieces. It is dedicated to the craft of the Lithuanian cross makers.
The second place of the category was shared by the coins “Tiffany Art 2008 – Mannerism” (introduced by Coin Invest Trust) and “Fragment of a Diadem” (submitted by the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan).
The successful artistic solution
 There are two winners in the category this year. They are the silver coin with the face-value of 10 zloty of the National Bank of Poland called “The Siberian Exiles” (struck at the Polish Mint, with a zirconium crystal encrusted in the coin, issued in the number of 135 000 pieces) and the triangular coin with the face-value of 1 crown of the Isle of Man “Tutankhamun’s Sarcophagus with Cartouches” (struck in the number of 25 000 pieces and introduced to the Competition by Pobjoy Mint).
The second place is occupied by the rectangular coin “Pierre Auguste Renoir” made at the Polish Mint (with the face-value of 10 diners of the Principality of Andorra).
The original technology
 Another Polish coin – “The 400th Anniversary of Polish Settlement in North America” – became the best in this category in 2009. The coin was submitted to the Competition by the National Bank of Poland, minted at the Polish Mint. In the center of the coin there is a glass insert depicting a glass-blower working. The 10-zloty coin was minted in the number of 126 000 pieces.
The second place is occupied by three coins.
One of them is the coin struck at the Mint of the City of Pert (Australia) – “The First Man in Space”. The unique construction of the coin allows the external ring to revolve around the central part with the Earth image.
Another is the Russian coin “The 150th Anniversary of the First Russian Postage Stamp” submitted by the Saint-Petersburg Mint. There is a gold insert with the image of the first Russian stamp on the silver coin.
The coin “Year of Planet Earth” was struck at Pobjoy Mint. It is the first coin in the world produced using quadricolor titanium.
The silver coin of the year
 The winner is the “Lucky Coin” with the face-value of 1 lat introduced by the Bank of Latvia and struck at the Mint of Finland in the number of 5000 pieces. A chimney-sweep and a cat sitting on one of the city roofs are depicted on the coin. It is generally believed that if one meets a chimney-sweep and rubs a copper button of his frock, his heart’s desire will be granted.
The second place is occupied by the 1-kilogram “Aztec Calendar” coin (The Bank of Mexico). It was struck at the Mint of Mexico in the number of 1000 pieces. On the coin obverse there are images of various national coats of arms used in the history of Mexico, and on the reverse there is the image of the Stone of the Sun known as the Aztec Calendar.
Three coins shared the third place. They are: the Polish coin with a gilded ball insert “XXIX Olympic Games – Beijing 2008”, the Russian coin “The 150th Anniversary of the First Russian Postage Stamp” and the Belarusian coin “Housewarming”.
The gold coin of the year
 The Russian 3-kilogram gold coin “The 190th Anniversary of Goznak” with the face-value of 25 000 rubles won this category in 2009 by a wide margin. It is the first gold coin weighing 3 kilograms in the history of Russia. It was struck at the Saint-Petersburg Mint in the number of 50 pieces (the Mint also introduced it to the Competition). The coin has an original obverse: besides the traditional double-headed eagle with drooping wings (the emblem of the Bank of Russia) there is a composition of images of banknotes and coins. The complex of buildings of the Expedition of Storing State Papers is on the reverse.
The second place is occupied by the “Coin of Latvia” (with the face-value of 20 lats, submitted by the Bank of Latvia) and “Kaliningrad. The Amber Route” struck at the Polish Mint with the face-value of 5 dollars of Niue Island.
The coin of the year
The winner in this category is the same as in the previous – the 3-kilogram gold coin “The 190th Anniversary of Goznak” with the face-value of 25 000 rubles.
The silver Belarusian “Legend of the Cuckoo” coin (with the face-value of 25 Belarusian rubles, submitted by the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus) took the second place.
The third place is occupied by the French gold coin “Coco Chanel” (with the face-value of 5 euro, submitted by the Paris Mint).
Other awards
 The People’s Choice Award was won by the Belarusian “St. Nicolas the Wonderworker” gold coin with incrusted synthetic crystals of the “Orthodox Saints” series. The face-value of the coin is 50 rubles. It was struck at the Polish Mint in the number of 1 000 pieces.
The Saint-Petersburg Mint – Branch of Goznak received the prize “For contribution to the development of the Russian market of commemorative coins”.
Coin Invest Trust received the Special prize of the Organizational Committee for the silver coin “Illusions – Don Quixote”.
What’s next?
After the results of “Coin Constellation-2009” were summarized, the Organizational Committee has started to prepare for “Coin Constellation-2010”. And, by the way, the Second Commemorative Coin Conference COINS-2010 will take place next year, in Saint-Petersburg by tradition.
The Gold Chervonets will describe the Conference preparation and announce the new coin competition.
Anna Izmaylova
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