AgAuShoot: Mint of Poland’s ambitious CGI of the Ares coin made real in perfect style

An eagerly awaited coin, Ares from Numiartis and the Mint of Poland has only been known from computer-generated renders (I believe the Mint of Poland uses ArtCAM) and artwork. We’ve already looked at them twice before both HERE and HERE, so we won’t go into the details again. We were fortunate to get a look at the first finished strike while in Berlin and what we saw was quite an eye-opener.

We are, like most collectors, wary of buying coins from early artwork, but it’s something that isn’t going to go away. Cynicism rules here and while we were very impressed with the renders, we had doubts as to how close to them the finished article would be given how ambitious they were. We’re very happy to report that all our fears were unfounded, the final coin easily being one of the highlights of the year so far and I can’t imagine this not being considered one of the coins of 2017 when the year is over.

The World Money Fair isn’t a great environment for coin photography, the dslr being surprisingly unhelpful, but the good old cameraphone with its extended depth of field, helps out considerably. As a result we managed to get some images that will give you a great idea of how impressive this beautiful design is. Well designed breaks in relief, fine detail and dynamic artwork are all present here – proof that CIT’s SmartMinting isn’t the only game in town. The video leaves much to be desired but gives you a decent look at the quality and relief of this coin.

The coin should be shipping towards the end of next month and it’s available in many dealers worldwide including First Coin Co and PowerCoin. A very impressive debut for this new series. With Choice Mints superb Legends of Asgard and Camelot series both expecting new debuts soon, it’s never been a better time for collectors of ancient mythology themed numismatics.