Cyprus’ €2 coin wins award

THE CYPRUS €2 coin has been awarded first prize, gaining the title ‘Best Trade Coin’ in an international competition organised in 2009 by Krause Publications, the American publisher of World Coin News, the Central Bank has announced.

The winning coin is the common €2 coin in circulation, which depicts a cross-shaped idol dating back to the chalcolithic period (3000 BC). The idol is an example of Cyprus’ prehistoric art and civilisation.

In the judges’ view, the coin possesses all-around appeal both from the aesthetic and commercial viewpoints and best meets the basic considerations of actual circulation as a monetary unit.

Cyprus coins have received international prizes in the past. The award will be presented on January 30 in a special ceremony at the World Money Fair in Berlin.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.