U.S. Mint Announces Curved Coin

Later this month, the U.S. Mint will release a coin with a very special design. Instead of a flat coin, the surface of this coin is curved, like the shape of a bowl, so that a concave and a convex side is created. 

The design, in honor of the 75th anniversary of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, bears the image of a baseball on one side. A baseball glove is depicted on the reverse. A technically advanced design in which form and content go together beautifully.

From a technical point of view, the design was quite a challenge for U.S. Mint. "It stretched the bounds of everything we knew about coin development," said Stephen C. Antonucci, digital development manager at U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.

Nevertheless, the curved coin is not the first of its kind. The French preceded the U.S Mint in 2009 with a similar coin produced in honor of the International Year of Astronomy 2009. Antonucci's team created a 3D model of this French coin using a laser scan and improved a number of details to its design.

With the passing of "The National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act" on August 3, 2012, the birth of this special coin is official. The Congressional bill authorizes the U.S. Mint to issue 50,000 $5 gold coins, 400,000 $1 silver coins and 750,000 $0.5 coins. The coin will be released March 27.