Mickey Through the Ages welcomes its fifth release, the first of 2017, although the second to be dated as such. A range of gold and silver coins in four formats, the series looks at some of the most iconic and best loved early appearances of Walt Disney’s master creation, Mickey Mouse. The previous four coins have featured the 1935 classic The Band Concert, The Brave Little Tailor from 1938, the 1929 Plane Crazy and one of Disney’s most admired movies, Fantasia. First for 2017 is the short movie, the Gallopin’ Gaucho from 1929.

The second short film to be produced that featured Mickey Mouse, following Plane Crazy, while it was completed as a silent before the seminal Steamboat Willie, it was eventually released afterwards with sound. The short was intended as a parody of Douglas Fairbanks’s The Gaucho, a film released in November 1927. Co-directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, the latter being the sole animator on it.

No change on the format front, a 1 oz coloured proof silver and 0.5 g, ¼ oz and 1 oz clean proof gold coins. Still the only series the New Zealand Mint has made available in the increasingly popular minigold format, and they’ve done a great job with the presentation, having it mounted to a credit card. The silver and other gold sizes are presented in some great quality wooden boxes inside heavy themed shippers and with a Certificate of Authenticity enclosed.

This is another fine design, a real celebration of early Mickey Mouse.  Every version is available to buy from today and the prices are unchanged at $85.00 for the silver, and $2,500.00, $620.00, and $75.00 respectively for the golds (all USD). As we’ve suggested before, these are about as good as Disney memorabilia gets for the serious collector. Instead of the usual stuffed toys, plastic gimmicks and printed stuff, precious metal coins are a class above and will always have inherent value. Coin collectors will also find much to love here as these are superbly struck, well presented and with a timeless design. Available to buy from the NZ Mint webstore, or from sponsors Minted-UK and PowerCoin.