Christmas Coins of the World

The designs of each country’s cash speak to national culture, pride and key personalities, and in parts of the world that celebrate Christmas, festive themes are common towards the end of the year. Today, we take a look at some recent yuletide coin designs from around the globe.

The United Kingdom’s Royal Mint first used a design from popular British Christmas animation The Snowman in 2018, and this year they’re celebrating the ten-year anniversary of its sequel, The Snowman and the Snowdog. Based on a 1978 children’s picture book, the stories tell the tale of a child who has magical encounters with creations made out of snow that come to life, which have also become popular in other countries including America and Japan. The new 50 pence coin depicts the title characters, Snowman and Snowdog.

Last year, the Royal Canadian Mint produced an innovative 50 cent coin celebrating the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train, which lights up stations across the country on its annual journey while raising donations and money for community food banks. The special feature of this coin is that the design changes from a daytime to a night-time scene as the viewer tilts it.

Also in 2021, Germany’s Ministry of Finance— Munze Deutschland—announced their first Christmas-themed coin, notable for having a face value of €25. It is only the second coin to have this value in 20 years of the euro being in circulation. The design is a classic depiction of the Christmas Nativity story, showing Mary and Joseph holding the new-born baby Jesus.

In 2020, the Royal Australian Mint released only its second-ever Christmas coin, featuring a golden wattle—the national flower—with its leaves forming a Christmas bauble. The country’s first Christmas coin—minted in 2019—features Santa Claus eating Christmas lunch with a variety of iconic Australian animals, including a black frigate bird pulling a cracker with him.

In 2018, Numismatic News took a look at the United States’ rich history of Christmas coins, including special U.S. trade dollars struck between 1879 and 1883 that were created specifically as stocking stuffers for coin lovers. By the mid-1900s, Christmas cards that included special festive coins became popular. One example from 1946 includes a lengthy quotation from Booker T. Washington—a famed American author and educator—on ‘the real gift of Christmas’, summarised as: “Good Will, The First and Best Christmas Gift”.

For 2022, the U.S. Mint has created Christmas ornaments, at the centre of which are special $1 coins celebrating Vermont, depicting a young snowboarder.

Finally, last year, the New Zealand Mint ran a competition calling for people to a create a Christmas-themed coin, which was won by British contestant Trinity Gritter. Her design showed a cheerful gingerbread man cookie wearing a Santa hat and red and green scarf.