Coin collecting with a summer theme can be a way to honor memories while building a coin collection. Summer has always had a special feeling – warm weather, beaches, outdoor sports and picnics. What’s not to like? While some collectors are preoccupied during June, July, and August with vacations, the coin hobby never rests. For those who love the summer and want to have coins that remind them of those great months, there are countless choices representing a variety of interests. Did you take a summer trip to England? How about collecting the Tudor Beasts coins or the Queen’s Beasts coins. Love the newest summer movie blockbuster? How about starting a Marvel coin collection.
Image Courtesy APMEX
Destination Vacations
For many people, there are special places they go in summer to relax – oceans, lakes and beaches are popular. Because these areas are so popular, it is natural that they would be portrayed on coins.
Fiji is comprised of more than 330 small islands in the South Pacific. As a remote destination, it has more than its share of beautiful, unspoiled beaches. In 2019, the Federal Reserve Bank of Fiji had small quantities of silver Scallop Shell coins created.
One version of this coin is a 10-gram .999 Fine Silver Scallop Shell. It was manufactured using a brand-new technology that accurately captures the colors and textures of real shells. It looks so realistic that you would swear it was made from an actual shell. It was made in a limited run of only 10,000 pieces and it bears a $1.00 legal tender denomination in Fiji.
The other version is a One Troy Ounce .999 Fine Silver Scallop Shell. This coin has a $2 denomination and had a limited mintage of only 4,000 worldwide. Both coins are accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and are housed in a box designed to look like a woven beach mat.
State By State
While almost everyone has heard of Fiji, very few people are aware of the federally recognized sovereign nation of Mesa Grande. This Native American reservation was founded in 1875 and is located in eastern San Diego County in California.
This sovereign nation created a series of coins in 2021 called the “Treasures of the United States.” This is a 50-coin set. The common obverse of each coin has an American bald eagle, the weight purity and nation of issue. The reverses differ with each state and contain a native piece of that state’s natural flora or fauna minted onto it. For example, the coin from the state of Delaware contains natural seashells. The design incorporates the state flower, the Peach Blossom, the state flag design and a depiction of the Delaware coastline.
Each coin contains One Troy Ounce of .999 Fine Silver. They have authorized only 1,000 of each of these coins to be struck. Each coin comes in a mint box with a certificate of authenticity from the Mesa Grande nation.
Seashore Fun & Safety
The Tuvalu Islands struck a surfboard-shaped colorized coin in 2020 while Australia followed suit in 2022. The Perth Mint also struck a series of Australian landmark colorized proof coins in 2013. These were One Troy Ounce .999 Fine coins, and a mere 5,000 coins were minted. The fourth coin in that series displayed a muscular Australian surfer holding his surfboard and gazing at waves crashing on the beach. It sold very quickly.
It’s not all fun and games at the ocean as it’s home to all types of creatures.
In 2020, the Royal Australian Mint designed a series of coins of Australia’s Most Dangerous creatures and in 2022 they released a special colorized version of a Great White Shark coin. It was authorized as a coin by Australia and bears a $5 denomination. It contains One Troy Ounce of .999 Silver. The coin has the standard effigy of Queen Elizabeth II on one side and a colorized version of a Great White Shark, with its mouth wide open.
The Royal Australian Mint struck this coin in Proof condition and colorized it appropriately. Only 1,000 of these coins were to be distributed worldwide.
The Boys of Summer
“While beaches are important, they are not the only symbols of summer that we have. Sports are very popular, especially in the summer and they are depicted quite frequently on coins,” said MC Garofalo, Director of the eCommerce Experience at APMEX.
Baseball, America’s national pastime, has been commemorated on numerous coins. Baseball was represented on a 1992 Commemorative Silver Dollar coin that depicted a baseball pitcher on the Olympic team, as he is just about to release the ball. One of the coolest summer coins was the National Baseball Hall of Fame coin issued by the United States Mint in 2014. It is shaped just like a baseball and is concave on the obverse and convex on the reverse. The obverse truly looks like a baseball while the reverse naturally depicts a baseball glove. The coin was issued to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Baseball National Hall of Fame. The coin was an instant success and it still is. Many of the coins have been certified by the two major grading services – the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) or the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) and some have even had baseball Hall of Fame players actually sign the grading service inserts. Those signed inserts by famous players bring tremendous premiums if you can find them.
The popularity of baseball may have been underestimated as these baseball coins sold out on the U.S. Mint’s website when originally offered and they still are good sellers at baseball card shows today.
Summer Olympics
Kite Surfing was recently commemorated on a coin from France because of the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics where Kite Surfing will, indeed, be a competitive sport. Monnaie de Paris’ coin designers skillfully captured the image of a woman riding on a surfboard holding onto a kite rope that is pushing her through the waves.
Because of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic games in Paris, Monnaie de Paris issued coins for many different events in both Olympics, honoring the athletes that compete in each. This particular series of coins are struck in .714 Fine Silver with a worldwide mintage of only 7,500 coins and a denomination of 10 Euros.
“Olympic coins are quadrennially popular coins. The Olympics inspire pride in our nations and pride in our athletes. From the earliest ancient Greek coins depicting wrestlers and other sporting events to coins being issued now for the upcoming 2024 Olympics, these coins will fly off the shelves soon after they appear on our website. We love having Olympic coins in stock,” said MC Garofalo.
Summer Comics
The Cook Islands authorized a series of four coins that were inspired by the Japanese Manga comic style, which dates back to the 19th Century. This series depicts each of the Four Seasons. The summer coin depicts a colorful image of a comic character with colorful sunflowers and Mount Fuji in the distance. This Cook Island sovereign $5 Proof Coin is part of a limited mintage of 999 coins of each design.
Charles Schultz’s beloved Peanuts character, Snoopy, shows us exactly what we need to do this summer. In this great Summer Fun One Troy Ounce round, Snoopy is completely relaxed by the ocean, shades on, umbrella up, while his best friend, Woodstock, is eyeing the waves and holding his surfboard made of twigs.
“Summer Fun coins are everywhere and cover all types of topics from the Olympics to Snoopy. Our customers love them and can’t get enough of them. They sell well even in winter. Who doesn’t want to think about relaxing on a warm, sunny beach, when it’s cold outside? I know that I do,” MC Garofalo concluded.
This article about summer coin collecting previously appeared in COINage magazine. To subscribe click here. Article by Mike Garofalo.
