The Struggle for Freedom in COTY Winning Coinage
Editor’s Note: This piece from Coin of the Year (COTY) Co-Coordinator Tom Michael was written in response to a Coin Clinic question from the May 9 issue. The question reads, “With Juneteenth now a holiday in the United States celebrating the end of slavery in the United States, I was wondering if any “End of Slavery coins (e.g. Cuba, Brazil) ever won a Most Historically Significant Coin of the Year Award?”
It's a very good question and makes a point well worth considering. The thing to keep in mind is that coins do not live independently in a vacuum. For instance, in 1990, when COTY honored 1988 coinage, the Brazilian three-coin series for the Abolition of Slavery, a set of stainless steel 100 cruzados, would have had their best chance of winning in the Most Historically Significant category, I think. At that time, we did not have a Best Circulation Coin category yet, all we had
