The Warrior’s Path was a series that debuted around this time last year with a striking Bushido coin, and it’s back for 2025 with Hatamoto. A Hatamoto, unlike samurai who served local lords, was a high-ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa Shogunate, during Japan’s feudal Edo period. They served as bodyguards, or officials, often in military roles, and held trusted positions. They faded into obscurity in 1871, following the abolition of the domains, when Japan moved to direct central rule, with prefectures.

The coin depicts a Hatamoto, fully armoured, and on horseback. He rides across a vista filled with classic Japanese architecture, and in front of that sun intensely coloured ‘sun’ that was present on Bushido last year. A fine design, and one I can’t wait to see in reality at some point. This producer’s attractive 2025 common obverse returns. Overall, a terrific representation of a fascinating period in Asian history.

Kicking off a whole new series is Cobellian, with one of the more unusual collaborations we’ve seen of late. Mike Butkus, and his daughter Amelie, co-created a book called ‘The Traveler’s Guide to Drawing the Extraordinary Creatures of the Universe’, and unlike most fantasy ‘encyclopedias’, it was designed to teach art by drawing weird and wonderful creations. Butkus is an award-winning concept artist, with over 30 years, and 5,000 credits to his name, from games and toys, to films, television and books, working with some of the biggest names in the world.

The book will be filled with his creations, with tips on how to create your own, and amongst them is Cobellian. It’s a rare treat to combine the imagination of a talent like Mike Butkus with a coin producer of T&S Coin’s standard, and the end result is this very cool coin. I’ll leave them to provide the description; “From the depths of the cosmos emerges Cobellian — founder of the Order of Stride, a rising alliance of interplanetary artists bound by curiosity, creation, and courage. A master of knowledge and craft, he stands as both a brilliant academic and technical artist, shaping worlds with seventy hands, each devoted to discovery.”

Whatever the backstory, it looks to be a fine looking coin, eschewing their usual obverse for a new one specifically themed for it. A very impressive first release in a series that has a huge wellspring of inspiration to draw from. I look forward to seeing it develop.

Regular readers will no doubt recognise these coins, released back in January in gold proof form, and depicting the love story of a couple that tried to reorientate Ancient Egyptian society. There were three coins, each carrying the same basic design, but cropped to fit the different diameters as the weights reduced, and they were sold individually boxed. That base design itself came from a high-relief silver coin.

They’re back here in newly coloured form, highlighted with a mix of white rhodium metal plating, and metallic colouring. The coins are essentially the same apart from that, but have an epic level of rarity, as they will only be sold in a three-coin set, and only 25 sets will be minted. A pricey purchase, for sure, but something a bit different these days, with gold so expensive.