Evolution of Earth silver coin series is back for a third annual outing sporting a high relief ammonite

Following hot on the heels of the outstanding Evolution of Life series by Coin Invest Trust, the Mint of Poland launched its own series called Evolution of Earth. There have been two issues to date – a Trilobite and a Nummulite, both aping the format of the CIT series. That format is a high-relief, two-ounce silver one, with a dark finish and selective gilding.

In the case of CIT’s range, the dark finish is antiquing and the gilding is rose gold. The Mint of Poland has gone with ruthenium plating for the background and more traditional yellow gold for the highlighted fossil. Both look close enough that its simply a matter of personal choice which you prefer, so it’s all down to the design. While the first coins seemed to favour CIT with its outstanding ammonite issue, the Mint of Poland has worked hard and this latest Niue Island issue, ironically also an ammonite, has put them neck and neck with their Mongolian issued competition.

 

The ammonite on this new release looks to be a complex and beautifully detailed piece of work. We only have renders at present, but the mint has a fine reputation for turning these cgi images into excellent real world strikes. Picked out with gilding, we think it’s a great-looking piece and the background detail merges in with it perfectly – showing the creature as it would have looked so many millions of years ago as it swam the ancient seas. Just the coin title is inscribed here and the font used will be instantly recognisable to owners of many of the Mennica Polskas’ premium series.

The obverse has some theming to match the reverse side, but as a Niue Island issue it carries the effigy of Queen Eklizabeth II in its centre. There are minor differences between each coin in the series, but the fundamental design is the same. Packaging consists of a wooden box in a themed shipper sleeve and will hold a certificate of authenticity. The mintage is limited to a relatively scarce 666 pieces and it will ship at the end of June. Dsistributed by Pela Coins, it will be available for sale there and at several other dealers including some of our sponsors. A fine issue and the best in the series yet.

AMMONITES

First appearing in the Devonian period and descended from an animal called a Bactrite, Ammonites roamed the seas of the earth from around 400 million years ago, and didn’t die out until around 65mya, a staggering period given the relatively infinitessimal time mankind has been around. At every one of the world major extinction events only a few species of ammonites survived, but they always bounced back until their luck finally ran out, along with the dinosaurs, at the end of the Cretaceous period.

Ammonites were predatory mollusks, very mobile and with tentacles. Very close in appearance to the still-living Nautilus, they were in fact more closely related to the octopi. Usually spiral in shape, although straight species aren’t rare, they remained buoyant using a siphuncle, basically a biological pump and siphon system. Each of the segments in the shell were a chamber that the animal resided in and the pattern of the edge of each chamber, called a a suture, is what marks out each species.

Many species probably carried ink sacs for defence, at least some were plankton feeders, and many were munched on by huge undersea reptiles called Mosasaurs. Fossils are plentiful and range from the tiny up to a colossal two meters in diameter! Some, especially in Europe, are so beautifully preserved that the original mother-of-pearl sheen is still fully intact. Others are less well preserved but show extraordinary internal detail with some having quite amazingly complex suture lines. Regardless, fossils are plentiful and make a great way to date rock formations.

SPECIFICATION
DENOMINATION $2 New Zealand
COMPOSITION 0.999 silver
WEIGHT 62.2 grams
DIMENSIONS 45.0 mm
FINISH Ruthenium plating
MODIFICATIONS UHR, selective gilding
MINTAGE 666
BOX / COA Yes / Yes