Spinning Coin
Cook Islands. 5 Dollars 2023. Silver .999. 1 oz. 35 mm. Antique finish. Mintage: 999 pieces. Special technology: Shaped Coin; smartminting® (Ultra High Relief). Minted by B. H. Mayer’s Kunstprägeanstalt, Munich.
Description of the Coin
Shaped Coin in the form of a toy top.
One side features a spiral pattern converging to the pointed part at the center, on which the coin spins.
The other side shows a similar pattern, in it at the top the portrait of Elizabeth II, below IRB (= Ian Rank-Broadley), around it the legend ELIZABETH II 5 DOLLARS COOK ISLANDS 2023.
Background
Coins were and are used to play a variety of games. There is, of course, “heads or tails”, a game of chance that precedes many ball games to this day and determines which team starts on what side of the field. Another option is to spin a coin on its edge, a game that is readily used to while away the time – for instance when waiting for the bill. By the way, the coin spin world record is currently at 25.71 seconds. It has been proven that spinning a coin stimulates the mind: after all, a spinning coin is believed to have inspired the ingenious Swiss mathematician Leonard Euler to formulate his rotation equations.
Thus, coins and spinning tops have been closely linked for centuries. CIT honors this connection with a coin in the shape of a spinning top. Produced in ultra-high relief with ingenious smartminting technology, the spinning coin has an antique finish that protects its surface from damage when it is actually used as a spinning top. Making a coin spin takes on a whole new meaning! And with this coin, you will easily break the world record of 25.71 seconds without any training.
Further Information
www.cit.li/coins/spinning-coin
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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.
