The Nightmare Before Christmas debuts on the New Zealand Mints latest Disney release

A nice change from the usual Disney ranges of coins coming out of the New Zealand Mints extensive programme is a coin celebrating a movie that is itself a little off-piste for Disney. The Nightmare Before Christmas was a bit darker than the usual Disney movie, no doubt through the involvement of stylish movie director Tim Burton, and was filmed in stop-motion, not traditional animation.

The coin format is one that regular NZ Mint buyers will recognise – a one-ounce silver coin, issued for Niue and with selective colouring on the reverse face. Depicting an iconic scene from the movie and with colouring kept to a minimum, fans will find it instantly recognisable. As its a Niue issue, the obligatory effigy of the Queen adorns the obverse; the Ian Rank broadley version.

The NZM always had a reputation for innovative packaging and while that’s less the case now as they’ve moved to high-quality traditional presentation, it’s good to see it back in full force here. The coin comes in a gloss black coffin-shaped box and that slides inside a shipper box that glows in the dark, an effect you can see further down if you run your pointer over the wide image.

Selling for a reasonable $85.00 USD, this is a sterling release and one that should find great favour with the legions of fans of this unusual cult movie. Available to order later today, the mintage is set at 10,000 pieces and many of those will no doubt head straight for the memorabilia market. What would fans like to see next?

2017 NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS SILVER COIN

The Nightmare Before Christmas is a 1993 American stop-motion animated dark fantasy musical film directed by Henry Selick, and produced and conceived by Tim Burton. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, a resident from “Halloween Town” who stumbles through a portal to “Christmas Town” and decides to celebrate the holiday, with some dastardly and comical consequences. Danny Elfman wrote the songs and score, and provided the singing voice of Jack. The principal voice cast also includes Chris Sarandon, Catherine O’Hara, William Hickey, Ken Page, Paul Reubens and Glenn Shadix.

The Nightmare Before Christmas originated in a poem written by Tim Burton in 1982, while he was working as an animator at Walt Disney Feature Animation. With the success of Vincent in the same year, Walt Disney Studios began to consider developing The Nightmare Before Christmas as either a short film or 30-minute television special. Over the years, Burton’s thoughts regularly returned to the project, and in 1990, he made a development deal with Disney. Production started in July 1991 in San Francisco; Disney released the film through its Touchstone Pictures banner because the studio believed the film would be “too dark and scary for kids”.

The film was met with both critical and financial success, grossing over $76 million during its initial run. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, a first for an animated film. The film has since been reissued by Walt Disney Pictures, and was re-released annually in Disney Digital 3-D from 2006 until 2009, making it the first stop-motion animated feature to be entirely converted to 3D. (Source: Wikipedia)

COFFIN COIN BOX AND GLOW-IN-THE-DARK OUTER SHIPPER

MINTS DESCRIPTION: In homage to Disney’s classic movie Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas this pure silver 1oz coin features a striking coloured and engraved composition of the final scene between Jack Skellington and Sally on Spiral Hill, as they realise they were always meant to be together. The complementary glow-in-the-dark themed packaging includes a miniature coffin which opens to reveal the coin nestled inside.

 

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SPECIFICATION

NAME 2017  NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
DENOMINATION $2 New Zealand
COMPOSITION 0.999 silver
WEIGHT 31.1 grams
DIAMETER 40.00 mm
FINISH Proof
MODIFICATIONS Colouring
MINTAGE 10,000
BOX / COA Yes / Yes
NEW ZEALAND MINT