After a few days off, we’re back with Lunar week, and it’s with the latest in what is becoming one of the premier lunar series on the market today, the Downies 5oz gilded range. As the name suggests, these are struck for Downies, a popular and well regarded Australian coin dealer. The actual minting is done by world class outfit PAMP, based in Switzerland.
Like its predecessors, the coin is a healthy 65mm in diameter and clean-struck, with the exception of some expertly applied gilding on the reverse face. Other than the words ‘YEAR OF THE MONKEY’, the main face of the coin is devoid of unnecessary inscriptions, something we always like to see, especially when the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II adorns the obverse and is generally less interesting anyway, so stick the inscriptions there out of the way we say. It comes supplied in the same timber case as the two previous issues, and with a numbered Certificate of Authenticity. A nice touch is the serial number also being engraved into the coin edge, also carried over from before.
There are quite a few lunars issued through the island of Niue, and we believe this is one of the very best of them. While unlikely to scale the heights achieved by the first coin in the series on the secondary market, we think this is the best release to date. With only 500 to be minted, it’s a great lunar to have, although higher end at $495.00 AUD. Available at many dealers worldwide, so everyone can grab one relatively easily.
CORRECTION: Coin is $495.00, not $595.00.
PREVIOUS COINS
The first coin was released in 2013 for the Year of the Horse and was an instant hit, now selling for greatly appreciating prices on the secondary market. The Year of the Goat was the obvious follow on coin and was an equally impressive design.
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Nice！