The Royal Mint commemorates the life and legacy of Mahatma Gandhi on a new coin

Nov 4, 2021 | ,

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has today unveiled a new UK coin celebrating the life and legacy of
Mahatma Gandhi – one of the world’s most influential leaders

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has today unveiled a new £5 coin celebrating the life and legacy of Mahatma Gandhi – one of the world’s most influential leaders.

It is the first time that Gandhi has been commemorated on an official UK coin, designed and made by The Royal Mint. Struck in the 75th year of India’s Independence, the coin features an image of a lotus, India’s national flower, and one of Gandhi’s most famous quotes – ‘My life is my message’.

Born in Porbandar, India, in 1869, Gandhi was instrumental in the movement for Indian independence. His followers called him ‘Mahatma’, which means ‘great soul’, and he is still widely remembered by that name.

The new coin, designed by Heena Glover, is available in a range of finishes including a gold one ounce, silver one ounce and a £5 ‘brilliant uncirculated’. It is part of a wider Diwali collection offered by The Royal Mint, which includes 1g and 5g gold bars in henna packaging, and the UK’s first gold bar depicting Lakshmi – the Hindu goddess of wealth.

The 20g gold Lakshmi bar was designed in partnership with the Hindu community in South Wales, and on Diwali The Royal Mint will join celebrations at the Shree Swaminarayan Temple in Cardiff as worshippers offer prayers to Lakshmi and Ganesha for the coming year.

Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Master of the Mint, said: “This coin is a fitting tribute to an influential leader who inspired millions of people around the world for his social activism. As a practicing Hindu, I am proud to unveil this coin during Diwali. Mahatma Gandhi was instrumental in the movement for Indian independence and it is fantastic to have a UK coin commemorating his remarkable life for the first time.”

Nicola Howell, Chief Customer Officer for The Royal Mint, said: “We are delighted to unveil the first official UK coin commemorating the life and legacy of Mahatma Gandhi. The beautiful design has been struck in the 75th year of India’s Independence, and builds on the enduring relationship and cultural connections between the UK and India.

“Working with the Hindu community in our heartland of South Wales, we have also created a beautiful 20g gold bar depicting Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity. We hope it will be a treasured addition for Diwali.”

More information about the Mahatma Gandhi coin and the Diwali range of gold bars is available at: www.royalmint.com

Miles Standish Begins Next Chapter

Nov 3, 2021 |

Best-selling author announces resignation from NGC and looks forward to future projects in numismatics

November 3, 2021 — Prominent professional numismatist, philanthropist and award-winning author Michael “Miles” Standish has amicably submitted his resignation as Senior Vice President of Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC).

“It’s been an excellent six years at NGC, but I want to take time now to write another book and create some new chapters of my own life,” said Standish, a resident of the Austin, Texas area.

He joined NGC as a coin grader and Vice President in 2015 after successful previous roles as an executive at ANACS, Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS), and Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA).

Standish is credited with spearheading and expanding the popular concept of autographs on encapsulation inserts with artists, engravers, former Mint Directors, celebrities, and star athletes signing inserts for certified coins and trading cards.

“In the past 37 years, I estimate I’ve examined, authenticated, and graded over ten million coins, cards, and sports memorabilia items,” said Standish.

In 1997, a photo of Standish wearing white cotton gloves while examining the Eliasberg 1804 Flowing Hair silver dollar appeared on the front page of the Orange County Register newspaper in California. In 1998, news media in St. Louis photographed him again wearing white gloves as he certified Mark McGwire’s record-setting 70th home run baseball.

Standish is the author of the reference book, “Morgan Dollar: America’s Love Affair with a Legendary Coin” which won the Best Specialized Book Award from the Numismatic Literary Guild in 2015. In 2012, he co-authored with former United States Mint Chief Engraver John Mercanti another best-selling book, “American Silver Eagles: A Guide to the U.S. Bullion Coin Program.”

In 2011, Standish was honored by United States Mint Director Edmund Moy with the Director’s Medal of Excellence. He also has created design concepts for more than 20 different numismatic and legal tender coins issued on behalf of the Cook Islands.

A native of Kalamazoo, Michigan, Standish began buying and selling coins at the age of 17 while still in high school. Soon after graduating in 1983, he was hired as a grader by ANACS. During his career at third-party certification companies, he served as ANACS Vice Chairman; PSA Vice President; PCGS Vice President, Senior Grader and Director Of Business Development; and was a Co-Founder of Collectors Universe, Inc., the parent company of PCGS and PSA.

In 2015, he became NGC Vice President and Coin Grader. Over the years, he also has worked for well-known dealers Michael G. DeFalco, Wayne Miller, and Steven L. Contursi.

In 2021 Standish was named one of the Top 10 Most Influential Persons 1960-2020 by Coin World magazine.

He assists his wife, Andrea Mangione Standish, a Certified Child Life Specialist who is Founder and President of the Standish Foundation for Children (https://standishfoundation.org), an international nonprofit organization that promotes child and family-centered healthcare in the United States and overseas.

During a “Shave Miles” fund-raising event for the foundation, Standish had his head shaved by Pawn Stars television show star Rick Harrison and a half dozen numismatic celebrities at the American Numismatic Association 2017 Denver World’s Fair of Money®. In 2019, he established a $250,000 trust fund to benefit education and sports programs at Portage Central High School in Michigan where he played varsity football and graduated in 1983. He also donated an eight-foot bronze statue of a mustang horse, a symbol of the school’s mascot name, the Mighty Mustangs.

Standish explains he got the nickname “Miles” around 1985 from Florence M. Schook who was President of the American Numismatic Association at the time. The nickname is a humorous reference to the historic figure Myles Standish, an English military officer who accompanied pilgrims on the Mayflower to establish the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts in 1620.

“The key to my success has been focus, determination and never giving up or quitting on the goals I set out to accomplish,” Standish stated.

United States Mint Releases Set of Reverse Proof 2021 American Innovation $1 Coins on November 8

Nov 2, 2021 | ,

WASHINGTON – The United States Mint (Mint) will accept orders for the 2021 American Innovation $1 Coin Reverse Proof Set™ beginning on November 8 at noon EDT. Production is limited to 50,000 sets, with orders limited to five sets per household for the first 24 hours of sales.

The American Innovation® $1 Coin Program is a multi-year series featuring distinctive reverse (tails) designs that pay homage to America’s ingenuity and celebrate the pioneering efforts of individuals or groups from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories. The 2021 coins celebrate significant innovations and/or innovators in New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, and North Carolina. All four coins are included in the 2021 American Innovation $1 Coin Reverse Proof Set.

These stunning reverse proof coins feature frosted backgrounds and brilliant, mirror-like finishes, creating a magnificent contrast. The four designs for 2021 were created by United States Mint Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) Designers and sculpted by United States Mint Medallic Artists.

American Innovation – New Hampshire $1 Coin
Designer: Christina Hess, AIP Designer
Sculptor: Eric David Custer, Medallic Artist
The New Hampshire $1 Coin recognizes Ralph Baer and his creation of the first home video game console. The design depicts Ralph Baer’s brown box game “HANDBALL” on the right side of the coin. The left side of the coin displays “NEW HAMPSHIRE” and “PLAYER 1” on an incused background. “IN HOME VIDEO GAME SYSTEM” and “RALPH BAER” encircle the outside of the coin in a text that is meant to pay homage to Ralph Baer’s Odyssey game. The additional inscription is “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.” The coin’s design is also symbolic of an arcade token.

American Innovation – Virginia $1 Coin
Designer: Matt Swaim, AIP Designer
Sculptor: John P. McGraw, Medallic Artist
The Virginia $1 Coin recognizes the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. The design depicts a view of the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel as a cross section cut away, illustrating the ingenuity involved in constructing it. Inscriptions are “VIRGINIA” and “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.”

American Innovation – New York $1 Coin
Designer: Ronald D. Sanders, AIP Designer
Sculptor: Phebe Hemphill, Medallic Artist
The New York $1 Coin pays homage to the Erie Canal. The design depicts a packet boat being pulled from a city in the East toward the country areas to the West. Inscriptions are “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” and “NEW YORK.”

American Innovation – North Carolina $1 Coin
Designer: Ronald D. Sanders, AIP Designer
Sculptor: Joseph Menna, Chief Engraver
The North Carolina $1 Coin acknowledges the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the first public institution of higher learning in the United States. The reverse design depicts a stack of three textbooks with “FIRST PUBLIC UNIVERSITY” on the spine of the middle book. A lamp of knowledge is perched atop the books, and olive branches curve around the edge of the design. Inscriptions are “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” and “NORTH CAROLINA.”

The obverse (heads) of all American Innovation $1 Coins depicts a dramatic representation of the Statue of Liberty in profile with the inscriptions “IN GOD WE TRUST” and “$1.” The design also includes a privy mark of a stylized gear, representing industry and innovation. The inscriptions “2021,” the mint mark, and “E PLURIBUS UNUM” are incused on the coins’ edge. AIP Designer Justin Kunz created the design, which was sculpted by Medallic Artist Phebe Hemphill.

The 2021 American Innovation $1 Coin Reverse Proof Set is priced at $28. To sign up for a REMIND ME alert, please visit https://catalog.usmint.gov/american-innovation-2021-1-coin-reverse-proof-set-21GC.html (product code 21GC).

Additional American Innovation $1 Coin products are available at https://catalog.usmint.gov/coins/coin-programs/american-innovation-dollar-coins/.

Note: To ensure that all members of the public have fair and equal access to United States Mint products, the United States Mint will not accept and will not honor orders placed prior to the official on-sale date of November 8, 2021, at noon EST.

To reduce the risk of employee exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace, the Mint’s sales centers are closed until further notice. Please use the United States Mint catalog site at https://catalog.usmint.gov/ as your primary source of the most current information on product and service status.

The Royal Mint releases official Tigger 50p in collection inspired by Disney’s Winnie the Pooh

Nov 2, 2021 | ,

The Royal Mint has released the next coin in the collectable series, inspired by Disney’s Winnie the Pooh, featuring the loveable character Tigger on an official UK 50p.

The sixth coin in a nine-coin collection, the commemorative 50p featuring Tigger follows the release of Owl, and Winnie the Pooh and his friends, respectively, on a 50p piece in 2021.

The collection began in 2020 with Winnie the Pooh, Christopher Robin and Piglet, and the final three coins are set to be unveiled next year, at The Royal Mint.

The Royal Mint’s designer Daniel Thorne remastered Tigger for a 50p piece, based on the original watercolour decorations of E.H. Shepard, first published in the A.A. Milne’s classic tales 95 years ago.

As with each coin in the collection, the design depicts the iconic E.H. Shepard characters and Daniel Thorne’s signature bee motif, adding a special feature for collectors across the nine-coin range.

Available in gold, silver and brilliant uncirculated, and special-colour edition, the range combines The Royal Mint’s 1,100-year-old minting traditions with innovative colour printing technology.

Clare Maclennan, The Royal Mint’s Divisional Director of Commemorative Coin, said: “Winnie the Pooh is a family favourite which, just like the joy of coin collecting, unites generations. With so many loveable characters in the range, combined with the craftsmanship and innovation at The Royal Mint, the collection inspired by Disney’s Winnie the Pooh, is an excellent choice for coin collectors and Pooh fans, and a fitting tribute to the loveable bear and friends on the 95th Anniversary of the adventures in Hundred Acre Wood.”

The Tigger 2021 UK 50p is available to purchase as an individual piece or as part of a collection at The Royal Mint.

NGC Coin Explorer Now Optimized for All Devices

Oct 26, 2021 |

NGC is excited to announce that its popular online resource, NGC Coin Explorer, is now optimized to seamlessly resize on all devices, making it easy to look up and research coins on a smartphone, tablet or desktop computer. The overall look of the NGC Coin Explorer has also been revamped with a modern, image-driven design.

If you haven’t used the NGC Coin Explorer before, now is a great time to start. It is a searchable catalog of US coins that contains important coin details from the NGC Price Guide, NGC Census, NGC Registry and NGC Auction Central resources all in one place. Consider the NGC Coin Explorer to be your convenient numismatic library where you can look up coins of all types to learn coin facts, values, histories and more.

For collectors familiar with the NGC Coin Explorer, you’ll find a much more user-friendly experience. Coin descriptions, analysis and high-resolution images are all easily accessible from one scrollable page. Plus, each coin’s available NGC Price Guide, Census and Registry details are integrated with this information and viewable on any screen size.

With the updated NGC Coin Explorer, NGC is investing in the hobby and delivering tools that make the collecting experience better. So, what are you waiting for? All of the information you need when researching, buying or selling coins is right at your fingertips.

Explore now →

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