An early peek at the Mint of Poland’s Amber Art Renaissance art-architectural coin

Back in November 2016, the Mint of Poland (Mennica Polska), launched a new art-architectrual coin, the first in a whole new series, called Amber Art Baroque. The series is called Amber Art because it uses a piece of polished, translucent amber on the reverse face, behind which is an engraved representation of a piece of the artwork associated with the building being featured. The last word, in that case Baroque, referred to the artchitectrual style being showcased.

Time for the 2017 coin to launch, and as expected from the information we got back then, it’s the Renaissance adorning the coin. Not just any old building has been taken for the subject matter, but none other than that amazing ancient structure, the Pantheon. Despite dating back to Ancient Roman times, this amazing temple has been the darling of the Roman art scene for centuries, even becoming the final resting place of some of the Renaissance greats, like Raphael. Originally considered the ultimate in pagan temples, the Renaissance saw the Pantheon brought fully into the Christian conciousness as views on architecture changed and it inspired such buildings as St Peters Basilica itself.

The reverse face has a view of the interior of the Parthenon, but where the original has an unadorned dome, the coin features a representation of one of the most famous pieces of art in the world – The Birth of Venus, by Sandro Botticelli. It isn’t in plain view, but covered in the piece of polished see-through amber, giving it an almost ethereal look. Our favourite part of this coin is without doubt the obverse. Usually the face that recieves less attention, this one keeps the Niue effigy and inscriptions set into a circular ‘coin-within-a-coin’ space and leaves the rest free for the main design. A multi-layered look at architectural elements from the dome interior in the background to a staircase in the foreground is a fine composition, much like the original coin had.

Supplied in a wooden box with a certificate of authenticity, just 500 coins will be minted. Struck by the Mint of Poland and distributed by Pela-Coins, the coin should sell in the €200-230 range and will be available from a range of dealers worldwide, including some of our sponsors. Although we only have renders at present, this looks a  fine addition to the two-ounce silver art-architectural coin market. It should ship from late-February and the next two coins will be Rococco in 2018, and Romanticism in 2019.