The Clown Prince of Crime appears on his own dedicated silver foil from Niue

2018 was a busy year for the New Zealand Mint as they continued to popularise the silver foil with a whole swathe of variously sized designs. They’ve obviously had some success with the relatively new type of coin as we’ve already seen some new designs for 2019. We can now add Batman Villains to the list. The mint has three formats in general use. One apes the dimensions of a banknote (5g, 150 x 70 mm), another called ‘Premium Format’ weighs 35 grams (262 x 175 mm), and in the middle is a foil that is orientated and proportional in size to the premium foil, but the same weight as the banknote style. It is this latter one that has been chosen for Batman Villains.

Of all the characters in comicdom, irrespective of publisher, few have such an eclectic pantheon of villains as Batman. Now 80 years old, Batman has drawn on the imaginations of some true industry giants to create such nemesis’ as Scarecrow, Riddler, Bane, Penguin, and at the top of the pile, the Joker. There have been countless incarnations of the ‘Clown Prince of Crime’ over the decades, and the foil depicts many of them from the comic books, although not from the movies. A great mix of images that represent the character well.

The obverse is patterned and has the standard Ian Rank Broadley effigy in its centre, so this is a coin (some of the other foils are not). The foil is sealed and comes presented in a sleeve that makes display nice and easy. A brightly coloured shipper box keeps it all together and it retails for $39.00 USD. Available to buy now, this is a pretty cool addition to the market and the first in a new series.