The design of modern commemorative coins

[chrisild]

I have the impression that most commemorative coins restrict their commemorative designs to the reverse of the coin.

In monarchies that will indeed very often be the case. Also, in the euro area, the commemorative €2 coins have to use the common reverse, so all that is left for the theme specific design is the central part of the obverse. With collector coins, it is a little different - most Dutch pieces for example will reflect the theme in some way. Think of the Belastingdienst (2006), Manhattan (2009) or Turkey/tulip (2012) issues ...

Finland will almost always have two "theme specific" sides, with the exception of series such as Nordic Nature. In Austria and Switzerland something interesting happened: Austria went from one specific side to two in 1989 for most collector coin denominations, while Swissmint took the opposite route. Until 2004 the Swiss collector coins had two "specific" sides (although the one with the face value was usually quite sober and did not necessarily reflect the theme). Then they introduced one value side design for all future issues. Don't think they lowered the prices accordingly.

Christian

[<k>]

in the euro area, the commemorative €2 coins have to use the common reverse, so all that is left for the theme specific design is the central part of the obverse.

I'm not well acquainted with euro coins, and as usual you don't provide any visuals, so I'll post some images to examine what you mean.




The reverse of the euro coins is the common side.




Here is the obverse - the national side - of the euro coins.




And here is the German commemorative euro coin of Helmut Schmidt.


As for your other points, I shall have to look up those commemorative coins you mention.

[<k>]

Here is the Belastingdienst coin you mention. Presumably the commemoratives circulate but the collector coins do not?

[chrisild]

I'm not well acquainted with euro coins, and as usual you don't provide any visuals, so I'll post some images to examine what you mean.

Well, I was specifically referring to commems, i.e. the "special" €2 coins. The other denominations we can safely ignore here. And as I wrote, only the central (pill) part of the obverse is used for the issue specific design. So, one side only, in fact even less than that. And yes, while the collector coins leave more room for "individual" designs, they are not issued for circulation.

Christian

[<k>]

And yes, while the collector coins leave more room for "individual" designs, they are not issued for circulation.

In this respect they are similar to the UK five pound coins, then. The five pound coins also occasionally have a non-standard obverse.

[<k>]

What I haven't mentioned so far is that some commemorative or special coins have different themes on the obverse and reverse.




Rwanda, 200 francs, 1972.  Obverse: 10th anniversary of independence.




Rwanda, 200 francs, 1972.   Reverse: F.A.O.-themed design.

[<k>]

Below is a similar case from Tanzania. The country's first 5 shilingi coin was a commemorative / special coin.




Tanzania, 5 shilingi, 1971.  Obverse: 10th anniversary of independence.




The reverse of the coin carried a FAO-themed design.


The obverse is not explicit about its theme, but presumably if you were Tanzanian you would have known the meaning of the years 1961 and 1971.  The coin became a standard 5 shilingi coin, simply by replacing "1961-1971" with the year of issue.