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Making of the 2012 London Olympics Medals

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Jul 212012

With the 2012 Summer Olympics starting next week in London, the folks at CNN Money did a report about the making of the medals by the Royal Mint.

Source: london2012.com via CoinsBlog on Pinterest

Medals made for the XXX Olympiad in London are the largest medals ever made for a summer Olympics. Their specifications are as:

Diameter: 85mm (approx. 3.346 inches)
Thickness: 7mm
Weight: 412g (approx. 14.5 ounces)

Designer: David Watkins
Obverse Design: Nike with Panathinaiko Stadium in the background
Reverse Design: The River Thames and the London Games logo with angled lines in the background

Composition of Gold Medal: 92.5% silver, 6.16% copper, 1.34% gold
Composition of Silver Medal: 92.5% silver, 7.5% copper
Composition of Bronze Medal: 97% copper, 0.5% tin, 2.5% zinc

The metals used to make the medals were supplied by Rio Tinto and was mined at their Kennecott Utah Copper Mine and Oyu Tolgol project in Mongolia.

Here is the CNN Money report about the making of the medals by the Royal Mint:

Image of the London 2012 Olympic Medals courtesy of London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games
Video courtesy of CNN Money

Numismatic Website Updates

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Dec 052009

Progress and experience is a good thing. It helps us learn about ourselves and how other perceive us. In the world of competing for business in numismatics, progress and experience helps those who sell coins and offer services improve how they communicate to us, their customers and constituents. Today, we are going to look at the websites that those of us who live part of our lives online visit for our numismatic fix.

Earlier this year, the Royal Canadian Mint updated their website. Prior to their current update, their site was written using Adobe Flash in a way that felt limiting to someone who visited the site to browse. The updated site has a more exciting look, fresher colors, and is better for those of us who like to browse. And speaking of browsers, this version does not use Flash in the same way as the old site. Your experience will be faster and more responsive than the previous RCM design. It is clear that experience has allowed the RCM to progress to a new design.

Not long ago, The Royal Mint updated their website. Although The Royal Mint did not need an update, they chose to change the basic theme and go with a simple design with a black background. It give the site a regal look, which is in tune with The Royal Mint’s vision of itself as one of the world’s oldest mint. However, navigation of this site is a bit quirky. There appears to be extra clicks required to find products and while the look is nice, every page has an image on top that distracts from the presentation by pushing to coins down. This image may only be a minor annoyance, but an annoyance nonetheless.

Here in the United States, there have been changes in the website for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The bureau with one of the best domain names (www.moneyfactory.gov) appears to have hired website designers that have graduated from Web Design 101. The site is is clean and professional looking with easier navigation making it easier to find information about the BEP. From the front page, the site is about the bureau and its functions. Sure, the last major even of the BEP is the redesign of the $5 Federal Reserve Note in 2007, but it allows the BEP to highlight its limited accomplishments.

With the new design, the BEP has created a new store front with its own domain name: www.moneyfactorystore.gov. The new store is easier to navigate and find products. The categories have been cleaned up, the unavailable products have been removed, and the premium series can be purchased by series or individual Federal Reserve banks. Buying individual premium products by Federal Reserve Bank was not possible with the old website.

Moving away from the government, the Professional Coin Grading Service has redesigned its website again. This time, rather than rely on the black and gold theme of their logo, PCGS is using a lighter blue theme to highlight their service. While this design is better than their previous designs, it is not without issue. For example, there is something about the front page layout that bothers me. The banner is too large, there is too much space between the banner and the page contents, and menus at below the main content are too low. If the PCGS web designers can lower the height of the banner, close up that extra space, the lower menus will move up on the page and not feel as if they are an after thought. Making these fixes could change the A- design into a solid Grade A design.

Of course the one website that is in dire need of updating continues to have the same design since 2000. The US Mint should update their web presence, especially their online catalog.

Getting the Public Involved with Coin Designs

coin design, coins, Royal Mint Comments Off

Jan 182009

It is interesting to watch what other mints do with circulating and commemorative coinage. Each mint is governed by its own laws and regulations that are very different than the coin design process required of the US Mint. While the US Mint is very regulated, other mints have the flexibility to create interesting coins and do it in a way that involves the public. One mint that is using its flexibility is Great Britain’s Royal Mint.

The Royal Mint is a crown corporation answerable to the Queen. While the Queen has the final authority of all Royal Mint activities, the Mint is required to consult with the Chancellor of the Exchequer (a position equivalent to the US’s Secretary of the Treasury) and the Prime Minister. Although this gives the Royal Mint a lot of flexibility, the Royal Mint uses their power judiciously—as they showed last year by redesigning British circulating coinage for the first time in 40 years, after decimalization.

With the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games a few years away, the Royal Mint is preparing by starting the design process. To commemorate the games, the Royal Mint is planning issue 50 pence coins with 27 different reverse designs representing the different sports that are part of the games. The obverse will continue to use the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II designed by Ian Rank-Broadley. But rather than go through a traditional design competition by having a competition amongst artists, the Royal Mint is opening the design competition up to the entire nation.

The competition is open to residents of the United Kingdom. Those interested should go to the Royal Mint’s special website for entry information. Design winners will receive a gold version of their coin, get to see their coin being produced at the Royal Mint, and receive a £1,000 prize (currently about $1,473). The following video was produced by the Royal Mint and features Chief Engraver Matt Bonaccorsi:

Along with the regular competition, the Royal Mint is holding two other competition for students. There will be a design competition for children aged 6 to 12 years and a design competition for children aged 13 to 19 years old. The younger competition winner will not receive cash and the school where the winner of the older competition attends will receive £10,000.

Deadline for the competition is the end of April. It will be interesting to see how the process progresses. It looks like the Royal Mint has an interesting idea to get the country involved. I will be watching to see how successful they are with this program. Maybe the US coin bureaucracy can learn something from this venture.

Sprinting to 2008

coin design, coins, commemorative, legislative, RCM, Royal Mint, state quarters, US Mint Comments Off

Dec 272007

Around the end of November or the beginning of December, the numismatic year begins to wind down and we start to look ahead to the new year. As 2007 has entered its final week, December was a buys and interesting month with the voting for the People’s Choice Award for Coin of the Year, to the release of the 10th Anniversary Platinum Eagles, the release of a plethora of Presidential $1 Coin products by the US Mint, and congress doing good and bad with our money. But with a week to go in 2007, everyone is getting ready for 2008.

Looking ahead, this is the last year of the 50 States Quarters for the states—the District of Columbia and the territories will have quarters issued in 2009. Designs have been announced with Arizona and Alaska having the potential to be very good looking coins.

Designs for the four Presidential $1 Coins have been announced. For 2008, the new dollar coins will feature James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. It is apparent that the Mint engravers are using official portraits and other art to base the coin designs. This makes makes the portraits very pleasing and worthy of being on coinage. Along with the Presidential coins, the First Spouse gold coins will include Elizabeth Monroe, Louisa Adams, Andrew Jackson’s Liberty, and Martin Van Buren’s Liberty. Both Jackson and Van Buren were widowed when they served as president.

Speaking of dollar coins, 2008 begins the Native American $1 Coin program. From 2008 through 2016, the reverse of the Sacagawea “Golden” Dollar will be changed yearly commemorate an aspect of history of the native American people. It will be interesting to see how the Mint will handle the design of this coin with the built-in bureaucracy prescribed by law.

The first commemorative for 2008 will be the American Bald Eagle Recovery and National Emblem Commemorative Coin to honor of the recovery of the Bald Eagle species, the 35th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and the Bald Eagle’s importance as a national symbol. I cannot help from thinking that Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey as the national symbol!

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing will release a redesigned $5 Federal Reserve Note with updated security features and a new purple color and a larger “5” on the reverse for the visually impaired. Sometime during 2008, BEP will introduce a redesigned $100 FRN with new security features and color. Because the BEP is not required to have its designs vetted by the Commission of Fine Arts, the new design will remain a secret until the BEP is ready to make their announcement.

Outside of the United States, the Royal Canadian Mint has started to introduce new non-circulating legal tender (NCLT) coins with new designs. The RCM is stressing new colors, designs, and the embedding of gemstones in their coins. Also, the 2010 Winter Olympics continues to be a significant theme of RCM coins.

Across the pond in the United Kingdom, the Royal Mint is advertising their new designs. New designs for legal tender coins are available from the Royal Mint whose sets include three commemorative coins honoring the 60th birthday of Prince Charles, the 450th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth I, and commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 4th Olympiad held in London.

Even The Perth Mint has issued its 2008 Silver Koala. This $1 NCLT silver coin is the second in the series of the Koala series introduced in 2007. The Perth Mint has also tried new coinage methods that includes moving parts and holograms.

It is going to be a very busy year and exciting year in numismatics.