Of all the world’s premier mints, it is the Mennica Polska, or Mint of Poland, that do more to push the boundaries of high-end coin design than anyone else out there. Just in recent years we’ve had the superb Fortuna Redux cylindrical coin, the beautiful pyramidal Pyramids of Egypt, the exploded ‘cuboid’ Pope John Paul II, the spherical New 7 Wonders of the World, and multiple volcano and art-architectural coins. It’s incredibly rare for the mint to release a dud, and even if the subject matter might not always be your thing, the coin design is always intriguing, and the craftsmanship of the very highest order.

The latest coin is the mints third commemorating the XVII edition of the Frederyk Chopin Piano Competition, quite a small scale event for such a numismatic, but a personal one for a country in which the gifted composer is held in such special regard. At first glance this looks to be another in the endless procession of rectangular coins that have been launched for many years, but closer examination reveals a quite extraordinary third dimension. The coin has been struck to look like a piece of music paper. It doesn’t sound particularly impressive when described in that manner, but it’s hard to overstate how difficult minting in these shapes while maintaining the integrity of the design, truly is. The small number of mints able to undertake domed coins for example, is telling enough, and the production videos for the Fortuna Redux will open your eyes to the complexities.

The design itself is also first class. The profile portrait of Chopin, laid across a score with a black-coloured signature, just flows together in a beautiful way, certainly not a set of design elements just plonked one on top of the other, a bit like the 1oz coin further below if we’re being brutally honest. The obverse with the hands on the piano keyboard depicts a great sense of Chopin’s hands in mid flow, in fact the whole thing overflowing with dynamism. We saw the prototype back in Berlin in January which had more colour on the reverse side, the score was coloured, but this is definitely an improvement. If you’re a classical music fan (it’s like karaoke for the uninitiated…. ), I can’t think of a better coin to own than this unique and well presented piece. Available for under €350/$400 US, it’s cheaper than many of this mints specials have been. A first-class effort.

MINTS DESCRIPTION

This beautiful souvenir coin was struck to commemorate the XVII edition of the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition.

Chopin’s formidable talent, manifested in highly emotional spirit and impeccable form of his works, quickly brought him fame all over Europe. The composer, often referred to as the Poet of the Piano, enriched the harmonic palette of his music by introducing into his compositions modes and features of the traditional Polish folk music.

Chopin was an outstanding personality. His style, recognizable from the first chords, is extremely abundant in means of expression. Being a child prodigy, he created his works from an early age. Gradually, the musical texture of his works was evolving into ‘brilliant’-style virtuosity, and finally reached its pinnacle in his large-scale works, e.g. in Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor and Piano Sonata No. 3 in H minor. His works, initially rejected by the audience, over time have been widely acclaimed as real masterpieces of a genius.

The fusion of pure silver and interesting graphical design is a guarantee of satisfaction. This is a unique possibility to purchase a real masterpiece of monetary art. If you are a true connoisseur of classical music, you need to add it to your collection! Each and every coin of this issue was struck in .999 sterling silver and was decorated with fine digital printing. Our minters implemented high-end technologies to achieve the impeccable beauty of this unique coin of unforgettable shape.

Unquestionable reputation of the issuer, highest purity of silver and, first of all, famous portrait of Frederic Chopin – due to all these factors this outstanding coin is doomed to success. Every single day it will multiply its collector value. Limited mintage guarantees the uniqueness of this prestigious coin. If you want to add it to your collection, do not get overhauled!