Disney is back in bullion with a view of the Sorcerers Apprentice from the iconic Fantasia

The New Zealand Mint has issued quite a few bullion coins over the last few years in conjunction with the Disney Corporation. Star Wars has been particularly successful, but it’s the classic Disney world that has been the backbone for them. Several issues, ranging from the classic characters, to newer movies, have featured, but it’s back to the early years for this latest issue.

Fantasia was the third animated Disney feature film, and is composed of eight different sequences, all set to classical music, one of which, The Sorcerers Apprentice, has become a Mickey landmark. originally meant to be a short, the rising costs led Disney to expand the scope so it would make more money as a full movie. While not a hit on its wartime release, with subsequent reissues it has racked up some very respectable receipts, so much so that when adjusted for inflation, it’s the 22nd highest-grossing film of all time in the United States. It was the first movie shown with stereophonic sound, A sequel called Fantasia 2000 was produced in 1999.

The coin is typical of this mints output. One-ounce only, a gold and a silver variant, and with a small mintage. Its a nice design and instantly recognisable to even the slightest Disney fan. While Fantasia is a more expansive movie than this segment, Wizard Mickey is what most people remember, so an intelligent choice. A simple effigy of Queen Elizabeth II (Ian Rank Broadley version) sits on the obverse.

Available from today, this coin is distributed exclusively by US mega-dealer APMEX and has some very limited mintages. The ultra-popular silver variant is capped at just 15,000 pieces. The gold, only 100. Mintages as low as these often bring increased appreciation, simply as a numbers game, but in this case, the added bonus of a big name subject may well make this one to watch. As always, we leave that up to you to determine. The silver can be purchased in monster boxes of 250 pieces, and both versions will be available in graded form.