Back in Black. Not AC/DC, but Darth Vader, his dimensional coin returning in coloured form
Dropping last August as an offshoot of the New Zealand Mint’s high-relief range of Star Wars coins, Darth Vaders ultra-iconic helmet was an instant hit which went on to spawn similar Boba Fett and Stormtrooper releases. These are dimensional coins, those employing ultra high relief and a shaped form.
We covered this one, and the others, in prior articles, so why are we here again? In our original post, we expressed some surprise that they had not coloured the helmet to match the actual Darth Vader visage, even going so far as to do a mock-up of what we thought the coin should have looked like (below). Fast forward a year…
In all the relevant respects, this is exactly the same, as you can see above, except for the application of black colouring. It looks to be digital colour rather than an application of rhodium/ruthenium/black nickel, but whatever the case, it’s a much closer representation of this incredibly well known character than it was before.
Packaging on the original was really first class and that is in evidence here as well. The rarity factor is considerably higher. The debut variant had a limit of 5,000 pieces, which even given how well done the coin was, turned out to be a touch high, as they’re still available. No such problems this time as the mintage of the black variant is capped at just 250 pieces.
So all is well? Not quite. Now, we’ve only seen these at EMK in Germany at the moment, but they sport a near €400 price tag. With the original on sale at the mint for sub $170 USD, that’s a hard sell for us. A cool issue, but not a great value one, in our opinion. Available to order now.
| SPECIFICATION | |
| DENOMINATION | $5 NZD (Niue) |
| COMPOSITION | 0.999 silver |
| WEIGHT | 62.2 grams |
| DIMENSIONS | 49.0 x 41.0 mm |
| FINISH | Proof |
| MODIFICATIONS | Dimensional, coloured |
| MINTAGE | 250 |
| BOX / C.O.A. | Yes / Yes |
From what you say those 250 coins have not been colored by the mint (New Zealand Mint), if not by some private company. Is what I say correct?
I imagine that if so they will have colored them in a private company in Germany and they will have sold them exclusively to the EMK website, that’s why they must be so expensive. Because after the mint they have passed through at least two intermediaries, making them more expensive by twice their value.
I have an original without coloring. It is true that it is more beautiful than without coloring, but if this has not been done by the mint and also for that expensive price …….. I agree with what you have said “A cool issue, but not a great value one, in our opinion “.
Just waiting for clarification on these, but I doubt they’re third party colourations. The packaging and certificate are as per NZ Mint and I’d imagine they’d not be happy about a blatant copy insinuating this was official. I believe these are official, but I wanted to clarify if these were an additional 250 pieces, or taken from the original 5,000. The original still hasn’t sold out (surprisingly), so it’s still possible these are from that 5,000.
Well, I am surprised that it is the mint itself that made these changes. I guess it will be those 250 of the 5,000 already made. Because if they have the same minting date (2019), I can’t imagine the mint minting above the limit and just a year later.
Definitely not a new issue. IMHO!! It was done by a 3rd party. IMHO!
Waiting to hear. That was my first instinct, but the certificate looks original and EMK have it in banners alongside nothing but official issues. If it is an aftermarket job, they’re skirting a very fine line with the mint and the notoriously litigious Disney licencer. The NZ Mint does do quite a few very limited coins that just appear at select dealers. The 1oz gold vehicles series is a notable example, as well as some Disney coins.
Yeah the COA part definitely throws it off a bit. so, maybe it was done for EMK privately. It’s a nice piece. They should have made them all that way. Lol. It’s nice.
Confirmed as an official release.
It is the first time that I have seen that mint do something similar with any coin. It is clear that they have realized a lot (although late) that they had to have removed the coin painted matte black. The one on the Stormtrooper’s helmet does not need to be colored (they are white, a very close color) and the one on Boba Fett is not very necessary to color, although there may be people who do want that color too.
You’d be surprised how much this goes on. The NZ Mint have done limited 1oz gold Disney coins for specific dealers in the past, so a coloured silver coin isn’t that hard to imagine. Many other mints do similar things, the Perth Mint’s China-exclusive Lunar issues, for example. It must be an attractive way to pre-sell an item without risk. We all benefit from the greater choice as removing the risk of producing something like this from the mint means it’s more likely to get produced. As long as respect is given to original mintages (none of that bullion privy mark crap we’ve seen in the past), I don’t have much of a problem with it. Aftermarket coloured coins, however, are a different matter… 😉
I already knew that there are other mints that have retouched coins that they initially made without any color and added color or other details to them. But the New Zealand Mint believed that this was their first time, although from what you say this is not the first time. I did not know that they had already colored 1 Ounce gold coins with a Disney theme.
As for private companies that color coins and that have nothing to do with mints, I think what they usually do is damage the coins and make them ugly. They do not have anywhere near the quality of color that mints have. I have colored New Zealand Mint coins that I like a lot. Especially the silver foil in any of its sizes.
Hi all,
I can confirm that the EMK exclusive Darth Vader coloured is a separate release. It is a unique mintage of 250, not from the original mintage of 5000. The product is Mint authorised, and created and packaged by NZ Mint especially for EMK.
Thanks for the clarification, Brent.
Well, something is wrong with what Mr. Brent says.
I have seen that this product is also on sale in the Aurinum store (also German). Therefore, it is not a product for exclusive sale through EMK.
There is also another thing that does not fit me at all and that is that these 250 units are minted apart from the other 5,000. Because the date of minting that appears on the obverse is “2019” and if it were a new mintage it would have to have read “2020”. Another thing is that if a mint mints 250 units (or whatever) above the established maximum mintage and they only change in that they are colored on one side, they would be lying to the government for which the mints were made, in this case to Niue.
I see everything related to this coin more confusing than before.
No there isn’t. EMK will be exclusive DISTRIBUTORS, in the same way that LPM, APMEX and many others are for individual products. Other dealers may buy from them to sell in their own stores. That’s perfectly normal.
As for the mintage, that is also not the case. Mintages as agreed with the country can be larger than are needed, with the actual mintage chosen being a commercial decision. In this case, the sensible thing was to keep the date, because the unusual shape of the coin meant they would have had to produce a brand new obverse die design – an expensive process for just 250 coins.
There’s no problem here at all. I know Brent well, and you couldn’t meet a more solid guy, or one better placed to offer the facts of the situation.
I’m sorry.
I thought I read that these coins were exclusive for sale through the EMK website, that’s why my surprise to see them also in Aurinum. On the other hand, it seemed very strange to me that they kept the date of 2019 being a minting of the year 2020, but you have already explained the reason. I also believed that after a year from minting, a mint could not mint new coins with the same design without making a change in the year that appeared on the obverse.
So there are 5,000 coins without applied color that were minted in 2019 and 250 with a matte black color applied on the reverse that have been minted in 2020 without changing the date. Total 5,250 between the two variants.
This coin is the only New Zealand Mint that I have seen that has been minted one year after another identical design without changing the year of issue and therefore increasing the initially established mintage. The only change is the application of matte black on the reverse. I said, this is for me the first time I see something like this in this mint.