Witness the cold hard gaze of the Gorgons stare with Art Mint’s beautiful new Medusa coin
One of the most distinctive figures in ancient mythology, the tragic figures of Medusa and the Gorgons have been the subject of countless pieces of art over the last couple of millenia, as well as appearing in numerous books, movies and tv shows in the modern age. There’s very little that looks like Medusa, and she remains one of the greatest and most inventive creations of the ancient world.
There have only been a few Medusa coins in the past, most notably Numiartis’ fine efforNumiartis’ fine effort, but they tend to portray Medusa as a character from the story. Art Mint seems to have taken a differnet path with this beautiful new Miroslav Hric designed coin, by portraying Medusa almost as you would imagine the ancients would have. Our first look at the coin immediately evokes a visit we made to Pompeii a few years ago, as the design and the Romanesque border around the edge look like something a citizen of the doomed town would have had attached to the front wall of their house, but made of stone, although lacking the coins subtle modern artistic touches.
Struck in three ounces of fine 0.999 silver, the design is clean and displays high levels of detail-packed relief. The Roman border pattern frames the best depiction of the Gorgon we’ve yet seen in numismatics. Very three-dimensional, it is, as we suggested earlier, something you can almost expect to see in a Roman villa. In each eye is a small (1.5mm) white diamond. We find that most coins that embed gems or Swarovski crystals in them are not improved by their incorporation, but like CIT’s superb Mongolian Wildlife ProtectionMongolian Wildlife Protection series, the placement in the eyes works to enhance the coin and gets a thumbs up here.
We’ll have obverse images soon, but expect it to be antique-finished like the reverse face. The coin will come in a neat wooden box with a serialised certificate of authenticity. Just 250 of these will be minted. A beautiful, classical coin that will start to ship in a couple of months time.
THE LEGEND OF THE GORGON, MEDUSA
Daughter of Phorcys and Ceto, Medusa was the most famous of the Gorgon sisters. Female, winged, ugly, and with hair formed of poisonous snakes, Medusa is one of the most iconic monsters in Greek mythology. The only one of the three Gorgon sisters to be mortal (the immortal others were Sthenno and Euryale), anyone who looked into her eyes was turned instantly to stone.
Said by Hesiod in his Theogeny to have lived on the island of Sarpedon, somehere near Cisthene, Herodotus placed the Gorgons in Libya where he said the original myth began with the Berber religion. In the myth she was said to have been a beautiful, golden-haired maiden, a priestess of Athena living a life of celibacy. She was wooed by the god Poseidon and forgetting her vows, married him. Athena punished her by turning her hair into venomous snakes, her eyes into a blood-shot stare, and her skin into a harsh greenish parody of its former beauty.
Seeing herself, Medusa fled, to wander Africa, dreaded and shunned by all. She became a hateful creature that matched her looks, until killed by the Greek hero Perseus who beheaded her. Perseus used her head to turn his enemies into stone until he gave it to Athena to place on her shield.
| SPECIFICATION | |
| DENOMINATION | 3,000 Francs CFA (Cameroon) To be confirmed |
| COMPOSITION | 0.999 silver |
| WEIGHT | 93.3 grams |
| DIMENSIONS | 50.0 mm |
| FINISH | Antique |
| MODIFICATIONS | Two inset diamonds |
| MINTAGE | 250 |
| BOX / COA | Yes / Yes |
It seems strange to me that you have made an article of a coin in which Medusa appears that you still do not know not what your obverse will look like and ……. on the other hand no article of this other spectacular and revolutionary coin that also has Medusa by protagonist. I mean the one already minted by the Warsaw mint for Niue https://firstcoincompany.com/S/niue-island-medusa-gorgon-15-silver-coin-extremely-high-relief-3d-shaped-2019-antique-finish-8-oz and oficial video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp1cVzXThi4&feature=youtu.be
Strange in what way? I’ve seen the obverse but can’t publish an image of it until it has final approval. Why should that prevent the rest going live?
As for the other coin from the Mennica Polska, we have an article going up on Tuesday. Two of my last four articles are Mint of Poland coins and what makes you think that one has the automatic right to go up first? A strangely antagonistic comment and no, it isn’t revolutionary. A cool coin for sure, but as the snakes are clearly cast and not minted, hardly revolutionary.
I was referring to what is strange, because Niue’s was already coined before this year’s World Money Fair (where it was presented) and this one from Cameroon is the first time that it has been in existence. Cameroon’s because of what you have said if there are pictures of its obverse, but are currently restricted, this is because it is very recent creation and minting of this currency, more recent than Niue. So I thought that as Niue has already weeks in which collectors know of its existence and instead this is more recent, it is clear that I referred to stranger.
And I would also say, what does Camerron have as a revolutionary? The design of the reverse side of this Medusa I do not particularly like, I like more the classic Greek type (like Niue’s), that has a pair of diamond inserts in the eyes, I do not see it very new either, because there are already large amount of coins with inserts in the eyes (mostly of Swarovsky) and the relief of the coin in reverse although very good does not surpass that of some other currencies of these last years.
Certainly the serpents of the Niue are not minted, they are added later. But nothing has ever been done before in a coin and I think that adding those snakes to the coin, added to the whole process, is something quite novel. Besides, I have never seen a coin that has such huge reliefs as the Niue Medusa.
All this is my humble opinion.
PS: It is possible that there is some grammatical error in my messages, since my English is very bad, my apologies.
No problem, I’m English and my grammar sucks sometimes ;-). The Niue Medusa was shown in Berlin, but press images have only been available for a week or so and Medusa is one of many coins they issued. The Cameroon one was better for us as it’s a world exclusive and hasn’t been seen before. That’s why AgAuNEWS exists, to be honest.
I like that both these coins are out there as they do appeal to different tastes. I personally love ancient history, so the Art Mint coin with its classic Roman look has great appeal and I just prefer the intricate detail. I can see how the other one would appeal to just as many collectors, however.
I’m glad you have a different opinion. It’s differing opinions and tastes that have made the coin market so vibrant and fast moving over the last decade. Good to hear your opinion and please continue to do so.
Well, that’s the good thing about numismatic collecting, which is there for all tastes. I collect everything from the first coins of the Kingdom of Lydia in Electro to those minted today. But the themes that I like the most are the Classic Greek, the Roman, the Spanish and the modern collection or bullion coins. I also collect medals although in much less quantity than coins. Naturally there are coins that I like less and others more. You will notice that I am in the numismatic “a little strange” because I like coins that have up to 2,700 years of difference between them.
Also say that I started to be more interested in the collection coins and the bullion just a few years ago. It was partly to discover the Aurinum page (from where I bought bullion coins). But mostly because of the discovery of the Power Coin website (incredible selection of collection coins and great customer treatment) and of your AgAuNews website. I’ve been reading your articles for quite some time, although this has been the first time I’ve written comments. And thanks to your articles I have bought more than 50 different coins. The last one that caught my attention and bought (although it’s still in presale) was “Trapped” for the Cook Islands https://www.powercoin.it/es/cit-coin-invest-trust/3847-trapped- caught-1-oz-coin-silver-5-cook-islands-2019.html and the one that cost me the most was a Russian from the series “Guarding The Homeland” that showed a tank T-90 since I only found a single company that sold it all over the world (Munzdaschs that you put the same one that sold it) http://agaunews.com/russia-showcases-the-armed-forces-tasked-with-defending-its-border-with-a- new-silver-coin /