Darth Vader is back on a bullion coin for the third time and the mintages are lower

For the third year in succession, Darth Vader is putting in an appearance on his own bullion coin from Niue and the New Zealand Mint. The fifth Star Wars bullion coin overall, the series has stuck to a strict artistic style from its inception, and that remains true today. The bas-relief style has been used on other series by this mint, like their Forgotten Cities series from 2016.

The design of this one isn’t a great departure from the previous two, disappointingly. A head and shoulders view of the black clad psychopath has always been the image of choice, probably wisely given the low resolution art style, but we’d like to see something a little different next year. Nevertheless, a neat design and our favourite of the three to date. Collectors will be pleased to know that mintages have declined for the first time, especially for the gold. The silver has dropped from 250k to just 100k, but gold has plummeted from 25k to just 1,000 pieces. A nice boost to collectability. Available later today.

REVERSE: features an officially licensed, close-up image of Darth Vader™ with his Lightsaber™, which is polished and frosted. He is set against a light frosted background that features the Imperial logo. The coin reverse also features the metal weight and quality, and it has been stamped with the Lucasfilm copyright and New Zealand Mint logo to provide further authenticity.

OBVERSE: features the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.