France celebrates its Disney Connection with the first half of an epic 2018 coin program

It isn’t just the New Zealand Mint that issues Disney coins. Ever since the opening of Disneyland Paris, France has held a special place for the creations of Walt Disney. Over the last couple of years the Monnaie de Paris has issued a variety of precious metal numismatics themed around the central Disney characters, predominantly Mickey Mouse and 2018 is no exception. This year is a biggie, however. with over two dozen coins being issued in two waves.

The initial wave includes the first ten of a twenty coin set of €10 face-value 0.333 silver coins meant to document a fictional tour of the European state by the iconic rodent. There are some fine designs in this debut offering and Disney fans will find much to like here. A pair of larger silver coins and a small gold one round out the initial release run.

It’s an ambitious offering that will be sold countrywide in 3,000 post offices and at numerous other locations. In September we expect to see the final ten €10 coins to round out the 2018 Disney program, making a grand total mintage for all the variants of some 2 million units. Who said coin collecting is waning?….

2018 MICKEY MOUSE LA FRANCE €10 COLLECTION I

The primary issue, the most affordable and in our view at least, the best, the ten coin set depicts Mickey Mouse in various locations around France. Meant to replicate the photo album of a holiday tour, this is a superb set of images. As someone who finds Mickey Mouse totally unappealing as a character (along with most Disney stuff to be honest), it’s to the credit of the mint they’ve done such a great job.

On the specification front these won’t be winning any awards. Struck in a metal that is only 33.3% silver, you’re buying a coin design rather than a store of wealth. The huge plus side with that is that each card-mounted issue sells for just €10, making them hugely affordable for silver coins. The mintage of 95,000 per design means they should be pretty easy to pick up initially, but we’d not be surprised to see eventual sell-outs on some of them. The tens coins in this first wave are

  • THE NICE RAMBLE – Mickey is studying his map to follow the GR20 of Corsica. In the background is the Padule arch.

  • NORMAN PICNIC – Mickey is having a picnic on the downstream cliffs of Etretat in Normandy. (145,000 mintage)

  • SILENCE, ACTION – Invented by two brothers from Lyon, the Lumière brothers, cinema is honoured on this coin. Mickey is shooting a scene in front of the monument to the Lumière brothers. The Fourvière Basilica, recalling Lyon, can be seen in the background.

  • FREE AS A BIRD – On this coin, the Mont Saint-Michel is depicted. Mickey just has jumped from a plane to land on the famous bay.

  • FIRST ON THE ROPE – This coin depicts Mickey in alpinist in front of the aiguille du Midi he is about to climb.

  • NEW WAVE – Mickey takes us to the Basque coast were he goes surfing. In the background, typical houses from the Biarritz seaside.

  • ON THE AVIGNON BRIDGE – On this coin, Mickey is rehearsing for a play in Avignon. He declaims his text in front of the famous bridge and the Palace of Popes.

  • A TRIP TO THE LOIRE – Mickey is observing the Loire castles. He particularly focuses on the Azay le Rideau castle with his binoculars.

  • COUNTDOWN – Mickey is standing in a spationaut’s suit in front of Kourou in French Guyana; the place where Ariane Rockets are launched.

  • AT THE FEET OF THE IRON LADY – Paris is honoured through this coin. Mickey is winning a race with an arrival under the Eiffel tower.

The coins can be purchased two ways. If you want single coins they’re available for €10 each mounted to a themed card. There’s a choice of three different coloured tins to hold your choices, even if that should be all 20 of them. Alternatively, you can buy the ten first issues in a bag that comes with an album to hold the full set of twenty, although only 8,500 of these will be made available. The base album is available seperately for €25. Either way, you have a cool and compact way to store the collection.

2018 MICKEY MOUSE LA FRANCE €200 GOLD COIN

A solitary gold coin in the first wave of Mickey issues and it’s a sensible three-grams in weight, so considerably more affordable than the usual ouncer. The artwork on this one is clearly designed to be a general overview of the series theme. There are three elements in play meant to represent the French flag, also called the tricolor. The horizontal lined area to the left represents blue, the vertical lines to the right – red. The central section is shaped like a map of France and is filled with national icons. This represents the white area of the flag.  A standing figure of Mickey occupies a large part of the face.

Like the other premium coins in this series, it comes mounted into a gatefold card rather than a box. The mintage of 20,000 is high for a gold coin, especially one selling for €200, but the sheer popularity of Disney must make them confident that demand will be strong.

2018 MICKEY MOUSE LA FRANCE €50 COLOURED AND UNCOLOURED

Two €50 coins are part of the first wave of Mickey La France and they differ in that one is selectively coloured and the other is clean. Struck in 90% pure silver – a significant upgrade from the 0.333 of the €10 coins – each weighs an unusual 41 grams and has an equally unusual 41mm diameter. Both are mounted into a gatefold card instead of a box.

The coloured coin (€59) is called ‘The Student’ and depicts Mickey outside a university wearing a mortar board hat after graduation. The mintage is 20,000 pieces. The clean struck coin is called 14th of July and has Mickey and Minnie celebrating Bastille Day outside the famous landmark. More of these are being struck with the mintage to be maxed out at 35,000.

SPECIFICATION
DENOMINATION €10 Euro €50 Euro €200 Euro
COMPOSITION 0.333 silver 0.900 silver 0.999 gold
WEIGHT 17.0 grams 41.0 grams 3.0 grams
DIAMETER 31.00 mm 41.00 mm 20.00 mm
FINISH Uncirculated Uncirculated Brilliant uncirculated
MODIFICATIONS None None (or colour) None
MINTAGE 95,000 35,000 20,000
BOX / COA Card / on-card Card / on-card Card / on-card