Since 2004, plenty of people have snapped up the various odd-shaped enameled coins of Somalia. To determine if a coin is mint-colored, collectors can confirm from the mint specifications or certificate of authenticity card that comes with most commemoratives, or check a world coin catalog or ask a world coin dealer. The good news is that this eagle is definitely mint-colored. The unlisted color silver-plated $10 coin was sold and distributed only through a third party called “Collector’s Showcase International” with a certificate of authenticity that was unclear about where and when the enamel work was completed.
This crucial difference created some hesitation for collectors wanting to buy a handsomely enameled Bald Eagle coin issued by Liberia in 2000. The amphibious rainbow included frogs of blue, purple, red, orange and green persuasions.Ĭolor collectors have to be on guard about aftermarket colorization, which is an alteration and not a design enhancement.
MINT COLOR RECORDEE SERIES
In 2010, Malawi issued a silver-plated 10-coin color photo-type series showcasing endangered frogs from around the world. They present a relatively inexpensive way to add color to a coin.
In the last decade, colored coins with appliqués that resemble color photographs have become increasingly common. This panda-less nation was not just flattering a trading partner with this coin, it was pandering to Panda coin collectors. North Korea has made a specialty out of coloring aluminum commemorative coins including a 2001 1-won piece designed to honor the Shanghai China Coin Show and Chinese Panda coins. Hologram animal series are still being made 13 years later (e.g., for the Cook Islands), even though a single holographic creature has yet to be located in the wild.Ĭolor can look great on every kind of metal, and every major type of coin metal has been colorized. The 2000 Parrot copper-nickel issue in the Wildlife Protection series from the Congo paired an animal coin with a hologram, or “prism” as some world mints call them. By varying the engraving depth and the finish of the precious metal, the environment around the colored rabbits was greatly enhanced in its detail.Īnimal series are very popular as subjects of color because animals are colorful and are popular topics. In 2011, Australia used color and silver to enhance a commemorative 50-cent coin made to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit. The 2001 Autumn Leaf coin features rust, orange and red colors.Īustralia has also been creative with technology and issues many color coins. Since 2001, its annual colored Maple Leaf silver bullion coin has been popular because of realistic and bold color palettes. In 1993, Uganda and Equatorial Guinea offered their first colorized commemoratives.Ĭoin Invest Trust’s website currently lists the names of 28 different nations for whom the firm is currently selling commemorative coins, many of which have at least one color series.Ĭanada was the first nation to issue a colorized circulating coin, the Poppy 25-cent piece, in 2004, and in 2013 is offering a dozen colored commemorative coins. (Technically, however, Palau was not independent from the USA until May 1994.) Palau has issued color coins annually ever since. Of course, the whole concept is only 21 years old, young by any standard.Ĭoin Invest Trust, a private mint in Liechtenstein, developed the original process for coloring coins and applied this for the first time in 1992 to the first-ever coins of Palau, a Pacific island nation. Some world mints take shortcuts with the process, using plasticized appliqués that appear to perch atop a coin instead of fusing color to surface. The result is a true miniature painting.Ī quality color coin is a marriage of color and metal, not a weekend holiday. These pay homage to the ancient system of enameling by putting different colors into cells on the coin’s surface. There are also unique, hand-colored issues, like the 1994 flora and fauna series of Cuba and the Bulgarian Fairy Tales series that began in 2011. At the top end are the issues from nations like Canada, China and Australia that are advancing the technology while using creative and culturally logical designs. Most are commemoratives but some are bullion and circulation issues too.
Plenty of the coins now exist to make this a topical specialty. The United States has never minted a colored coin, but more nations are doing so every year since the first issue 21 years ago. Mint-colorized coins are a worldwide phenomenon that has yet to come to the United States Mint.
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