Wish you were here. Postcard style silver foil bigs up the backwater Star Wars world of Tatooine

Silver foils continue to prove resilient to the swings and roundabouts of the coin world, although with most themed around some truly massive popular culture licences, it’s fair to say they have a helping hand in other areas. Huge surface areas for a given weight – over thirty times with ease – they’re uniquely suited to showcasing ideas and subjects that don’t do well on coins. Not for everyone of course, but an important stepping stone for introducing new collectors into the numismatic world. It certainly helps that there are also traditional coins with similar subjects, making the transition quite logical.

Case in point is the huge Star Wars licence owned by the New Zealand Mint. The Classic Star Wars coin series was an outstanding range of 14 coins, cleanly struck and free of gimmickry, and with obvious appeal to coin collectors. However, for attracting attention, big, bright and colourful seems to be the way to go. These new silver foils are definitely that and the NZ Mint’s huge 175 x 262 mm premium movie poster examples are pretty impressive. They’re more expensive, sadly, so the new mid-size 5g foils strike a better balance between area and cost.

The mints latest is a pretty clever take on the Star Wars Universe. Thousands of planets, wildly different, mark out this movie setting, but have been largely ignored in favour of technology and characters. This series aims to change that by showcasing them on a series of silver ‘postcards’. First out of the block is Tatooine, the home world of the main protagonist, Luke Skywalker. A big part of the saga, Tatooine is an iconic part of the journey of these characters across nine movies.

The design depicts a look at the Skywalker homestead, with a small image of the planet in one corner. The back is covered with fine imagery as well – a nice touch – including issue details, as this is actually still a coin. It’s presented in a gatefold sleeve that’s also heavily themed, and i’ts all wrapped up in a neat shipper box. An interesting and original idea, it’s available from today for $39.00 USD.

TATOOINE

Located in the galaxy’s desolate Outer Rim, Tatooine orbits a pair of binary G-type stars, Tatoo I and Tatoo II. The planet’s indigenous lifeforms such as the womp rat, bantha, Sarlacc, and Krayt dragon are well-adapted to its arid climate. Though its proximity to the suns makes life difficult, it is located near key hyperspace routes, making it a smuggler and gangster haven; debris from shipwrecks also provides resources for scavengers. Annual sandstorms wipe out landmarks and make nomadic life dangerous, with the planet’s populations clustered into distinct settlements.

A small Imperial presence brings the planet an additional source of water, its most precious commodity. Though tasked to enforce the law, stormtroopers often overlook crime; an efficient black market also enables the procurement of illegal goods. Human settlers often become moisture farmers and live in subterranean dwellings in order to survive. Pipe systems distribute most of the harvested moisture to indoor crops supplying food for the farmers. Rare water sources such as springs in badlands (e.g. Beggar’s Canyon) provide hydration for hermits and Tusken Raiders. The planet is dominated by the Hutts, a clan of gangsters and crime lords. Since Tatooine was beyond the reach of the Galactic Republic, the Hutts presided over the lawless planet with little outside interference. When the Galactic Empire subsumed the Old Republic, the new regime established only a token presence on Tatooine, which left Jabba the Hutt’s reign unchallenged until his death during the events depicted in Return of the Jedi. The planet gained notability in the galaxy as the homeworld of Luke Skywalker. Source:Wikipedia