Netherlands 2014 King’s Medal

The Royal Dutch Mint has recently released a limited mintage medal to mark the one year reign of King Willem-Alexander which revives an intriguing design concept. A continuous circle of text in varying degrees of boldness is used to create an image.

obverse

The obverse of the medal contains a portion of King Willem-Alexander’s inauguration speech delivered on April 30, 2013. The text forms the image of the King’s right hand raised while he holds two fingers in the sign of pledge and oath.

reverse

The reverse of the medal features the full text of former Queen Beatrix’s speech in which she announced her abdication. Once again, varying degrees of boldness across the text are used to create an image, this time of the former Queen’s hand upon her son’s.

The 2014 King’s Medal seems to have been well received as the .925 silver proof version, which was limited to a mintage of 500 pieces, already indicated as sold out on the Royal Dutch Mint’s website. A cupro-nickel version of the medal with a mintage of 5,000 pieces still remains available. (Note that the knm.nl website does not ship to US destinations.)

As mentioned, the style of the design for the new medal has previously been used on one of my personal favorite coins pictured below.

architecture

The design for the 2006 Netherlands and Architecture 5 Euro Coin was created through a competition. The winning design for the obverse contained the names of 109 famous Dutch architects ordered based on the number of hits each name registered on the internet. The names are shown in decreasing size as the text circles towards the center of the coin. Varying degrees of boldness are used to create the image of then Queen Beatrix.

The reverse design also takes an interesting approach by showing the spines of books on architecture arranged around the edge of the coin to create an outline of the Netherlands at center.

van-gogh

Going even further back, a similar concept of using text to create images was used for the 2003 Vincent Van Gogh 5 Euro Silver Coin. The reverse design features one of Van Gogh’s famous self portraits graphically composed of the letters of his name. The obverse features a portrait of Queen Beatrix also composed through the use of text.

Royal Canadian Mint and Perth Mint New Releases

The Royal Canadian Mint has started accepting pre-orders from Master’s Club members for its latest round of new product releases. These are highlighted by a new series featuring a day in the life of the Bald Eagle and ultra high relief gold and silver coins to mark the 75th anniversary of the first Royal Visit. Master’s Club members can find the new products available here. Orders will open for the general public on May 6.

Sales for the Perth Mint’s new product releases will begin on May 5 at 12:00 Noon ET. The product list includes the 1 oz and 5 oz Australian Wedge Tailed Eagle Silver Proof Coins, however based on information received previously sales to US customers will take place through an exclusive distributor.

Full coverage of all releases will be provided to coincide with the start of sales.

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