Beautiful World Coins

The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing on two beautiful Silver Coins from Poland

The National Bank of Poland just issued two superb 2008 silver proof 10 zlotych coins commemorating the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Since the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, Polish athletes have won a total of 269 medals, with athletics the most successful sport.

The first coin features a gold-plated sphere with the Polish Olympic Committee logo in the center and shows a swimmer. Its obverse shows a stylized image of a dragon from the Nine Dragons Wall located in the Baihai Park in Beijing.

The second coin features a square hole and shows a windsurfer. Its obverse shows a fragment of the Forbidden City in Beijing.

Mint: Warsaw

Year: 2008

Face value: 10 zlotych

Finish: Proof

Composition: 92.5% silver

Size: 32 mm

Weight: 14.14 grams

Mintage: 140,000 (the golden sphere coin), 150,000 (the square-holed coin)

The Olympic Games in Beijing on a Silver Proof Coin from San Marino

The Republic of San Marino celebrates the 2008 Beijing Olympics with the issue of a silver proof 5 euro coin featuring the Great Wall of China and a juggler with a ribbon making five round circles representing the Olympic rings.

The Olympic rings represent the five continents and are intertwined between themselves to symbolize the union of peoples through the Olympic Games. Each ring has a different color: blue, yellow, black, green, and red. Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games, chose these five colors because, at the time, they were the colors used in all the flags of the world.

Mint: San Marino

Year: 2008

Face value: 5 Euro

Finish: Proof

Composition: 92.5% Silver

Size: 32 mm

Weight: 18 grams

Mintage: 17,000

A Colorful Canadian Maple Leaf Coin with embedded Crystal

The Royal Canadian Mint recently issued a 2008 Maple Leaf $20 pure silver coin, the "Crystal Raindrop", with colored reverse and a large embedded crystal. It's the first time the RCM combines color and crystal applications on a coin.

Canada started the Maple Leaf series of silver bullion coins in 1988. Since 2001, it also issues various proof, holographic, and colored silver Maple Leaf coins.

Mint: Ottawa

Year: 2008

Face value: 20 Dollars

Finish: Proof, with colored reverse and CRYSTALLIZED(TM) – Swarovski Elements

Composition: 99.99% Silver

Size: 38 mm

Weight: 31.39 grams

Mintage: 15,000

The 2008 Grand Canyon Silver Proof Coin

The French Mint celebrates the Grand Canyon with this 2008 commemorative 1.5 euro silver proof coin. Added to the UNESCO World Heritage List of the Greatest Wonders of the World in 1979, the Grand Canyon National Park is one of the most visited sites in the United States.

In 2007, Monnaie de Paris issued the first coin in this series: a commemorative 1.5 euro proof coin celebrating the Great Wall of China. The common reverse shows the UNESCO logo and building. Located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, the UNESCO building celebrates the 50th anniversary of its construction in 2008.

Mint: Paris

Year: 2008

Face value: 1.5 Euro

Finish: Proof

Composition: 90% silver

Size: 37 mm

Weight: 22.2 grams

Mintage: 5,000