“Are Things Becoming Too Colourful? France and Portugal Issue 2-Euro Colour Coins” and more from CoinsWeekly

Hello,

Stay informed with this week's CoinsWeekly articles, providing the latest updates and news from the numismatic world. Feel free to reply in this thread to comment, ask questions, or discuss the articles.

• 

  Are Things Becoming Too Colourful? France and Portugal Issue 2-Euro Colour Coins
  After six years, two Eurozone countries make use of the opportunity to design commemorative 2-euro coins with a special effect. Until now, official 2-euro coins with colour have been an absolute exception – for they are not at all liked to be seen in Brussels.

• 

  Outstanding Women in Silver and a Break for 5-Euro Coins: Germany’s 2025 Commemorative Coin Programme
  Germany’s 2025 coin programme comprises eleven issues, combining subjects of historical importance with current socio-political topics.

• 

  Certified Collectibles Group to Acquire James Spence Authentication
  Certified Collectibles Group acquires the leading autograph authentication firm James Spence Authentication.

• 

  King Felipe Unshaven: New Commemorative Coins from Spain
  Spain has presented its first commemorative coins for 2024 – and the designs show an interesting detail.

This forum message was posted automatically.

Have to admit I'm not a fan of the coloured coins of any nation. To me, they just look too “gimmick”y. But if there's demand out there, I'd rather national mints made them than individuals. They might as well make the profit to keep them in business.

=====

I've never considered how much a monarch kind of needs to remain constant as a visual image. Just growing a beard can mess with currency, stamps & other bits and bobs. Can't recall seeing a portrait update that wasn't simply “same but older”. Very interesting.

Coloured $2 coins in Australia are very popular amongst collectors, Some are worth a lot of money, some are not worth much more than face value. But they actually do circulate and you do get them in your change.

Mike

brismike

Coloured $2 coins in Australia are very popular amongst collectors, Some are worth a lot of money, some are not worth much more than face value. But they actually do circulate and you do get them in your change.

 

Mike

Hi Mike,

if they circulate, they are fine with me. 

How do you manage to get the color on them when the coin is stroked. I suppose it's always one strike coins? How long time does the color stay?

Thanks

Ole

brismike

Coloured $2 coins in Australia are very popular amongst collectors, Some are worth a lot of money, some are not worth much more than face value. But they actually do circulate and you do get them in your change.

 

Mike

Hi Mike,

if they circulate, they are fine with me. 

How do you manage to get the color on them when the coin is stroked. I suppose it's always one strike coins? How long time does the color stay?

This I found on internet, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colored_Coins: ;

Colorized Circulating Coins

In 2004, Canada, a nation that is always progressive in its variety of inventive coinage, was the first nation to issue a colorized circulating coin. The Canadian 25 Cent Poppy coin was issued in honor of Canada’s 117,000 war dead. The coin had a red poppy emblazoned across the back and a protective coating over it so the color wouldn’t wear off easily. The quarter nearly caused an international spying incident when several U.S. military contractors acquired some in change and thought the coins, because of their unusual appearance, may have some type of nano-technology transmitters on them. The contractors reached out to the U.S. Department of Defense and were assured these coins were not espionage equipment.

Since that time, the Royal Canadian Mint has utilized that technology on numerous occasions to create different colorized coins. Some of the most popular coins have been the colorized Maple Leaf silver bullion coins, with their bold, bright and seemingly natural colors.

Australia has experimented with colorized coins and its engraving technology. They developed an idea to vary the depth of the engraved subject to enhance the detail and colors.

Countries that you wouldn’t expect joined the rush to authorize colorized coins – Mongolia, the Cook Islands, Congo, Liberia, the Northern Mariana Islands and Cameroon are just a few.

Today there are close to 50 sovereign nations that offer colorized coinage and there are many hundreds of different issues. The topics range from world leaders to cartoon characters, from race cars to every conceivable type of animal or insect. Everyone strives to find a topic that hasn’t already been covered. In addition, many colorized coins also come in a wide variety of shapes including guitars, animals and cars.

MC Garofalo is APMEX’s Director of the Ecommerce Experience and has been in the precious metal and rare coin business for more than a dozen years. “The growth of APMEX’s business in colorized coins has been phenomenal. Both young and old customers love their favorite movies, video games and superheroes! The nostalgia is represented on these bright, beautiful coins and rounds. They love owning them.”

I still don't know, how it's done!

Thanks

Ole

They are growing on me. At the end of the day it's a matter of choice. Like the Aussie ones. Topics not always the best and overkill, but some are just beautiful like the 2022 Honey$2 coin.

These colorful coin-like issues are the red line for me. None will enter my collection. If I wanted colour, I'd go for a painting. 

My complaint with colourized coins is that the process of adding the colour after striking causes significant scuffing on  the coin's surface. Often the colouring detracts from the exceptional details of the strike itself.

My opinion, of course.

For me colored coins I do dislike, it looks to me as a toy or flippo. Actually I do not even like, most, bimetal coins.
I prefer older silver or bronze coins, but that is just me.

I can easily believe the coloured versions are popular with some tbf. They do look more interesting & eye catching upon first glance. But too often, feels like they're sacrificing detail for colour.

Maybe I'm just too old school & like plain. 😛

@Yvon I can totally see the bimetallic mixing dislike. I don't like it either if the design continues over both layers. I don't mind it if the outer ring is independent of the inner. Like if the inside was a portrait & the outer was a legend bearing their name, that generally works for me.

But if the portrait took up both rings, probably not work for me.

This is one of the very well done coloured Australian $2 coins. It was released into circulation.

2022 Honey Bee coin. >>> N#324888

There are others that are not as well designed and coloured as this one above.

There are 68 Australian coloured $2 Aluminium-bronze RAM ones Numista >>> https://en.numista.com/catalogue/index.php?e=australia_section&r=&ct=coin&im1=&im2=&tb=y&tc=y&tn=y&tt=y&tp=y&cat=y&ru=&ca=3&no=&v=2.00&i=&b=&ie=&u=&a=2012-2024&dg=&m=10&f=&t=20.5&w=&mt=36&g=&se=&mi=28&d=&c=&wi=&sw=

I have been working through them updating the pictures so some have an older darker pic that will be replaced soon.

Cheers Mike

brismike

This is one of the very well done coloured Australian $2 coins. It was released into circulation.

 

 

 

2022 Honey Bee coin. >>> N#324888

 

There are others that are not as well designed and coloured as this one above.

 

There are 68 Australian coloured $2 Aluminium-bronze RAM ones Numista >>> https://en.numista.com/catalogue/index.php?e=australia_section&r=&ct=coin&im1=&im2=&tb=y&tc=y&tn=y&tt=y&tp=y&cat=y&ru=&ca=3&no=&v=2.00&i=&b=&ie=&u=&a=2012-2024&dg=&m=10&f=&t=20.5&w=&mt=36&g=&se=&mi=28&d=&c=&wi=&sw=

 

I have been working through them updating the pictures so some have an older darker pic that will be replaced soon.

 

Cheers Mike

This is indeed the exception on the rule… Nice coin. How is it done? With a kind of sticker? or is it paint/enamel of some sort?

yvon

brismike

This is one of the very well done coloured Australian $2 coins. It was released into circulation.

 

 

 

2022 Honey Bee coin. >>> N#324888

 

There are others that are not as well designed and coloured as this one above.

 

There are 68 Australian coloured $2 Aluminium-bronze RAM ones Numista >>> https://en.numista.com/catalogue/index.php?e=australia_section&r=&ct=coin&im1=&im2=&tb=y&tc=y&tn=y&tt=y&tp=y&cat=y&ru=&ca=3&no=&v=2.00&i=&b=&ie=&u=&a=2012-2024&dg=&m=10&f=&t=20.5&w=&mt=36&g=&se=&mi=28&d=&c=&wi=&sw=

 

I have been working through them updating the pictures so some have an older darker pic that will be replaced soon.

 

Cheers Mike

This is indeed the exception on the rule… Nice coin. How is it done? With a kind of sticker? or is it paint/enamel of some sort?

Can they strike the coin in one go? Where does the color come from?

Sjoelund

 

Where does the color come from?

How does it come on the die?

I believe it's applied to the coin.

The coins are minted in the normal way with a die. Then they are placed on a tray with the reverse facing up. The tray holds around 200 coins. They are then fed into a printer that adds the colours required. There is a You Tube video showing how it is done. I will find it and post it.

Very occasionally one coin will have the colour added to the wrong side. These are called bullseye coins and they fetch quite high prices.

Mike

Thanks. So it's a “two strike event” if everything goes according to procedures.?

It's upping the costs. Lowering the quality . BUT it's good for creating varieties….

This video is from 2020 and shows the minting and colouring process at the Royal Australian Mint for this coin >>> N#196344

A peek behind the scenes to see how Coloured Two Dollar Coins are made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1lEL22-YIw

Mike

Hi Mike,

so it's a two “strike” printing process. Unfortunately, it was NOT shown, how the coins are all aligned before the color “strike”. All in all a quit work intensive process, even if done by robotic and AI help.

Sjoelund

 All in all a quit work intensive process, even if done by robotic and AI help.

Still, even if production costs are tenfold, selling price  brings a fat profit to the mint!

brismike

Coloured $2 coins in Australia are very popular amongst collectors, Some are worth a lot of money, some are not worth much more than face value. But they actually do circulate and you do get them in your change.

 

Mike

The 2012 coloured poppy is one of those worth quite a lot 

Canada also has circulating coloured coins notably the one and two dollars 

I have a few of those.

Sjoelund

Hi Mike,

 

so it's a two “strike” printing process. Unfortunately, it was NOT shown, how the coins are all aligned before the color “strike”. All in all a quit work intensive process, even if done by robotic and AI help.

For that coin it doesn't matter as the circular colors can have a random starting point.  Notice the difference in the coin pictured and the brochure.  

It seems the red Poppy is also in all inclinations:

but on this one the coins have to be aligned?

I assume it's easier to align the ink jet than the mechanically turn the coin so maybe they optically detect a particular point on the coin.  Probably a proprietary secret so we may never know.

You're probably right, but why can't we be told the truth?

The 2017 dance of the spirits $2 Canadian coin is not only coloured but it glows in the dark