New Coins!

My mother is a numismatist and I spent countless hours as a child wading through her coin collection. She has coins that circulated for only a brief time, coins with mint errors, and especially beautiful or historically significant pieces. Over the last decade, she has amassed the entire “50 State Quarters” series. (Launched in 1999, the United States Mint’s 50 State Quarters Program was a 10-year initiative that honored each of the nation’s states in the order that they ratified the Constitution or were admitted into the Union. Each quarter was produced for about 10 weeks and will never be produced again.)

So, I was especially excited to read that a new series of coins are being introduced in Singapore. And, for the first time, the coins were designed by a local, Fabian Lim.

Via just rambling:

This third series of Singapore’s coins features national icons and landmarks — the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, public housing, Changi Airport, the port, and the Merlion —  marking the country’s progress over the decades.

This departs from the current coins, known as the “Floral Series”, which were done by the late English painter and coin designer Christopher Ironside (1913-1992), who also created coins for countries such as Brunei and Kuwait.

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Introduced in 1967, the first coins in Singapore currency portrayed it as an exotic tropical island with marine animals. Designed by Stuart Devlin (1931-), a gold and silversmith who was born in Australia and is now based in the United Kingdom, these coins are apparently still legal tender today, although most have been phased out.

To find out more about the evolution of Singapore’s money, check out this timeline by the Singapore Mint. There is also a very interesting blog about old currency in Singapore here.

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Aren’t these new coins extraordinarily beautiful? I can’t wait to collect a set to gift to my mother!