Mt. Everest – First Ascent
Cook Islands. 10 Dollars 2023. Silver .999. 2 oz. 45 mm. Proof. Mintage: 1,953 pieces. Special technology: smartminting® (Ultra High Relief) with partial color application and micro minting. Minted by B. H. Mayer’s Kunstprägeanstalt, Munich.
Cook Islands. 100 Dollars 2023. Silver .999. 1 kg. 100 mm. Proof. Mintage: 99 pieces. Special technology: smartminting (Ultra High Relief) with partial color application. Minted by B. H. Mayer’s Kunstprägeanstalt, Munich.
Description of the Mt. Everest Coin
One side depicts Mount Everest from a bird’s eye view, its peaks in high relief and with color application. A broken line marks the route of the first ascent. At the top MT. EVEREST 1953 FIRST ASCEND.
The other side features Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in full gear; Mount Everest rises up in front of them. On the left in a circle the portrait of Elizabeth II, below IRB (= Ian Rank-Broadley). Around it the legend ELIZABETH II, the respective denomination, COOK ISLANDS 2023. On the rim: On 29 May 1953, New Zealand-born Hillary and his Nepalese mountaineering partner Tenzing Norgay, became the first humans to stand on the summit of Everest. As members of the 1953 British Mount Everest Expedition, their triumph was the glorious result of a long, complex and brilliantly co-ordinated campaign.
Background
On May 29, 1953, New Zealand-born Edmund Hillary and the Nepalese-Indian Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mount Everest at 11:30 a.m. The first ascent of the world’s highest mountain was celebrated by the international media as the conquest of the third pole – after the North and South Poles. The British were able to take credit for this success, as British mountaineers had organized and led the expedition. The Times had exclusive rights to the story and broke the news of the successful expedition on the day of Elizabeth II’s coronation. No other news could have better illustrated to British readers the great achievements of which their empire was capable.
CIT commemorates this iconic moment in mountaineering with a commemorative coin that shows Mount Everest in three-dimensional relief. The true-to-life representation of the earth’s highest mountain on a coin could only be achieved through exquisite smartminting®. The impressive alternation between high relief and Proof surface on the other side shows the incredible artistic level employed by B.H. Mayer to implement CIT’s designs. The delicate coloring on one side is also a masterpiece.
“Mt. Everest – First ascent” will be released in two versions: a 2-oz version with a face value of 10 Dollars and a one-kilo version with a face value of 100 Dollars. Only 99 specimens of the impressive kilo version will be issued.
Further Information About the Snowflake Star Coins
www.cit.li/coins/mt-everest-first-ascent
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CoinWeek Podcast #155: Ultra-Modern Coins Take Over
Mobile phone users. Stream this podcast for free by downloading the podomatic app or subscribe to the CoinWeek Podcast on iTunes.
In this episode of the CoinWeek Podcast, Charles Morgan and Chris Bulfinch have a lively, interesting, and provocative conversation with Chang Bullock and Orlando Lorenzana of CIT, where we talk about how ultra-modern coins (or postmodern coins, as we call them) have taken over the contemporary coin market and how CIT’s innovations in color and coin minting technology are changing the game for private and sovereign mints.
You cannot walk away from this podcast without learning something about the way minting has changed–and has always been changing throughout the course of monetary history–and we hope it will give you a clearer picture of where we are heading.
