Planet of the Apes gets the antiqued high relief treatment for the Perth Mints newest issue

Taking the format used for Gods of Olympus and using it for their movie franchises, the Perth Mint has released a new Planet of the Apes anniversary coin. It’s been half a century since the premiere of the cult classic science fiction movie starring Hollywood legend and gun nut, Charlton Heston. With its incredible final scene, there was no way this movie was going to join the ranks of the forgotten, depsite some less than stellar sequels. Recent remakes have proven very successful and the franchise has worked its way back into the popular conciousness.

Last month the mint launched a Planet of the Apes coin in its usual coloured one-ounce format. An okay, if pedestrian affair, the coin is now joined by a better effort. Designed by Ing Ing Jong, the coin depicts one of each of the main ape species that made up the civilisation. Rimless and antique-finished, it’s a good design and is well presented in the clear acrylic frame that the Perth Mint is increasingly using. We’d like to see the diameter increase given the two ounces of metal employed, but we don’t doubt the quality will be up to this Western Australian mints usual standards. A price just shy of $210 AUD is higher than usual, but the mintage of 2,000 is low for a movie coin. Available now.

MINTS DESCRIPTION: Released in 1968, Planet of the Apes is a ground-breaking movie which, in the tradition of great science fiction, reflects conflicts and questions in our own society. The film tells the story of an astronaut crew which crash-lands on a dystopian planet in the year 3978, about two millennia after their departure on a near light-speed voyage. In a desolate landscape, the surviving crew members, led by Taylor (played by the late Hollywood star Charlton Heston), discover a society in which apes are the dominant species with human-like intelligence and speech. Organised in a strict caste system, the apes treat humans like vermin who are hunted to be killed, enslaved or used for experiments. A critical and commercial success, the film won an Oscar for outstanding makeup.

The coin’s reverse features Dr Zira in the foreground, Dr Zaius mid-ground and a hunt leader in the background. As well as The Perth Mint’s ‘P’ mintmark, the design also includes a depiction of the desert-like Ape City. The coin’s obverse depicts the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the  monetary denomination, and the 2018 year-date.