This is an extremely bold concept, but it is going to require you to dig deep, especially if there’s a specific design you want. What we have is a set of 51 coins, 50 of which are one-ounce of silver, with one a quarter-ounce of gold. The coins are sold in a black box which contains two coins. However, here’s the rub, you don’t know which two you’re getting. Much like the once thriving trading card market, this is a random chance event.

The silver coins are divided into five lots of ten, with mintages varying. The five levels are ‘Limited’ (250 mintage per design), ‘Uncommon’ (150), ‘Scarce’ (50), ‘Rare’ (30), and ‘Ultra-Rare’ (20). The last level, ‘Mythic’ is the gold coin, with just 10 of those mixed in. The image above shows a silver and a gold coin in the box, but don’t forget that no more than 10 of the 255 available boxes will be like this.

As we said, an ambitious concept, but one we can’t fathom who the target audience is. At $300 per box, you’d have to be flush with cash to stick it out to get the coins you want. The value isn’t there either, with the NZ Mint selling single one-ounce coins, often with striking designs, for under $100, why would you pay three times that for double the silver? The aftermarket, especially the eBay scalpers, will love it, for sure, but given how the trading card market crashed because of the increasing cost and impossibility of getting a set together, usually because of the nonsensical number of ‘special’ cards in them, we don’t expect the concept to spread to other producers. The coins look superb, to be honest, with the commoner coins being the best, in our view, but it’s a shame they’re not more accessible to collectors.

A shaped series of coins that seem to be a mix of elements from the dimensional helmet series and the Animated TV style. At present, these remain focused on the Empire, but we’d not be surprised to see a Rebel Alliance series follow, or even The Mandalorian. A highish mintage means availability should be better.

A series like the Faces of Empire in every way, except themed around the First Order from the sequel movies.

Like the Faces of Empire, this will depict the various helmets from the TV show’s unique universe.

Another series like the Faces of Empire, but a simple trio released to mark the 20th anniversary of an underrated animated series, Clone Wars. The blue and yellow coins have a mintage of 668, while the black is 687, adding up to the year the series debuted – 2003.

This range is the only one to focus exclusively on the hardware that makes up a large part of the Star Wars Universe. Six coins in total, they’re presented as blueprints on the reverse face. There’s very little in the way of struck detail with these, and they’re quite hard to read because of the relatively small size, but they look decent enough. An unusual set, they have a recommended price of $80.00 USD each.

A pretty cool range of four coin depicting the major characters of the Mandalorian in a comic book art style.

Part Star Wars Classic and part coloured movie coin, this series is rapidly working its way through the characters of the smash-hit Disney Plus TV show, The Mandalorian.

A new series of Masterpiece-like coins, featuring iconic battle vistas from the movies.

Another new series of bigger coins, almost like a ‘masterpiece’ series, made up of a collage of images of the chosen character.

A classic New Zealand Mint coloured coin series, this one depicts the characters in the animated series, ‘The Bad Batch’, about a group of experimental clones with independent minds. A relatively staid series, almost by the numbers, the coin series seems to have faded out after just two issues.

With Star Wars experiencing a creative resurgence after taking a bit of a battering from six less than brilliant films, it’s of little surprise that the cause of it, the new television series, have become the focus of the New Zealand Mint. Essentially a peripheral character, ‘Baby Yoda’ went on to become the merchandising hit of the last two years, and the character now known as ‘Grogu’, has already put in an appearance on several NZ Mint coins.

The latest is this shaped one-ounce coin depicting Grogu in his iconic floating ‘pram’. It’s all a bite cutesy, but there’s no arguing with the design and the focus of it. We reckon this one will be very popular, although the 10,000 mintage is higher than many other coins of its type. In 2023 we got a refreshed version, otherwise very similar. Maybe an annual thing?

Exclusive to German dealer EMK, this NZ Mint produced coin is spherical, so truly dimensional, and weighs in at a giant kilogram of fine silver. It’s a pretty detailed coin for its 58 mm diameter, and the antique finish suits it well. Just 299 will be struck, with a price tag just shy of €3,000. In early 2024, the design reappeared in a pair of smaller formats.

A pretty cool idea in a format new to Star Wars coins. Antique finished with colour, they depict the soldiers that enforced the Empire’s will.

Chibi is a Japanese popular culture concept that involves depicting characters with enlarged heads and shortened, wider bodies. Starting with the 2023 issues, a gilded variant was randomly placed in the boxes, with a 10% chance of getting one.

Chibi is a Japanese popular culture concept that involves depicting characters with enlarged heads and shortened, wider bodies. This new series is for the hit TV series, The Mandalorian. Starting with the 2023 issues, a gilded variant was randomly placed in the boxes, with a 10% chance of getting one.

Chibi is a Japanese popular culture concept that involves depicting characters with enlarged heads and shortened, wider bodies. This new series is for the hit TV series, The Book of Boba Fett.

Chibi is a Japanese popular culture concept that involves depicting characters with enlarged heads and shortened, wider bodies. These new series are for the hit TV series, and we expect it to expand to include Ahsoka, and others.

A new range for the 40th anniversary of what is widely touted as the best Star Wars movie. There’s a very limited 7.78g gold coin with a unique design, as well as a set that consists of a 5g silver foil and a 1oz silver coin, both featuring different versions of the movie poster.

Also offered is a 40th anniversary version of the original 2018 1oz rectangular poster coin.

A series of six character coins, these showcase the new characters from the first of the latest trilogy, The Force Awakens. These have the same basic format as the Star Wars Classic range, but choose colour over a detailed strike. This is something that is probably more attractive to the casual collector, rather than the more dedicated coin enthusiast.

Three character coins again, these focus on the big bad and on a pair of more established characters than The Force Awakens issues. In most respects, they follow the same design ethos and will appeal to the same group as before. A little forgettable compared to Star Wars Classic for the coin collector, we know that coloured coins seem to have greater appeal to the casual collector.

The mint has a long record of issuing cleanly struck coins for the characters, but employing colour for those issued to mark the release of a new movie. That is indeed the case again, and this pair of coins (sold separately) feature the main characters of the sequel trilogy, Rey and Kylo Ren.

A clean quarter-ounce fine gold proof coin depicting the hit character from the first two sequel movies, BB-8, and a new one, D-O. These coins are less than an inch in diameter, so don’t hold the same amount of detail as a 1oz silver coin, but the two droids are instantly recognisable.

Simple proof finish one ounce silver coins, the three released to date cover the two standalone movies, Rogue One (two coins) and Solo. Not particularly adventurous again, they are well produced issues for the casual collector and the Star Wars fan. There will likely be coins issued to cover any future movies like this.

A series of one troy ounce fine silver coins in a rectangular format that reproduce the well regarded movie poster art of all the movies. The coins come in superb solid acrylic display frames which look great. Mintage is set at 10,000 and the recommended price is $85.00 USD. Early coins have seen some aftermarket appreciation.

A bigger, and considerably rarer, five-ounce version of the movie posters. The first is ‘Episode IV: A New Hope’, and it follows the design of the one-ounce coin very closely. Packaging is nicer, as you’d expect with a $499 USD launch price.