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The Austrian Mints new range of Prehistoric Creature coins has kicked off with the first release in the range,  Trias: Life in the Deep.

The obverse of this proof 34mm coin shows an Ammonite in life and as a fossil over a timeline that will run through all five coins in the series. The reverse has an image of an Ichthyosaurus swimming over a Nothosaurus. The coin is 20g of 900 silver, so has a fine weight of 18g. A maximum of 50,000 will be minted.

Although the coin comes supplied in its own box with a numbered certificate as shown centre below, there are two collector cases available to hold the whole collection. The Classic Edition (left) is aimed more at the coin collector, while the Discovery Edition is full of facts about the subjects of the coins and has a full length picture on the front. Both look excellent and its good to see a mint take the time to enhance a series like this and pull in the newer collector. We’d imagine kids in particular would like the Discovery Edition and they’d make a fine introduction to collecting at quite reasonable prices. The coin is EUR 48.99 and each of the two cases sell for EUR 44.40.

 

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OPINION

The Austrian Mint is one that gets unfairly overlooked outside of Europe, probably due to the European nature of many of the coin subjects. If there's any justice in the world, this series will help change that. We picked up this first coin and its a beauty. The artwork is absolutely first-class and minted to the very highest standard. The individual coin box was excellent and the coin is reasonably priced and quite easy to pick up. While we're a little biased here because we love palaeontology, this is a superb coin and we're hoping the next one maintains the standard.

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