With the finishing up of Germania Mint’s ‘Allegories’ and ‘Mythical Forest’ ranges, their Germania World selection had shrunk considerably, but fortunately, because we’ve been big admirers of the Germania World range, there’s a new addition to bring it back to the forefront. Called ‘Witchcraft’, the series will delve into the mysticism that permeated the old Germanic tribes, based around man’s interactions with the natural world.

The first coin is called Seeress, a woman with the ability to divine future events, use natural medicines, and suppress the forces of evil. She is depicted in ceremonial garb, wielding a staff, on top of which are deer antlers, in the deep forests of Northern Europe. On one of the trees behind her is Ratatosk, a mystical squirrel that carries messages along the branches of the World Tree, Yggdrasil. It’s a fine design by artist Mateusz Frąckowiak.

The obverse is typical Germania Mint, with an interesting combo of Germanic cultural elements, particularly animal skulls like those on the staff, and dragons, no doubt drawn from the legend of Fafnir. The bicephalous eagle, that is the mint’s signature, remains, but in smaller form, no longer the main focal point. The whole thing is surrounded by a mix of dragon tails, and runic inscriptions.

The big change here is the use of an octagonal blank, rather than a round one. It’s very distinctive, and we wonder if it will migrate to any of the other ranges, whether new or existing. I guess its popularity will make that decision. There are three variants on offer, starting with a base bullion coin, and topping out with a two-ounce, high-relief coin with embedded mineral, so something for all budgets. All are available to order now.

The core version, and one for the bullion crowd, is this one-ounce, brilliant-uncirculated coin. It has a heavily cropped version of the full artwork from the two-ounce coin below, and not only gets away with it, but it could be argued it’s the best version, although that’s strictly a personal choice, of course.

This one is only available as a one-ounce coin, and comes encapsulated, but with a Certificate of Authenticity. The mintage of 20,000 dwarfs the others, but is still relatively small for a bullion coin from a big producer,

The design of the ‘Ritual’ coin is an interesting amalgamation of the base, and range-topping variants. From the top version it inherits its antique-finish, and UV glow-in-the-dark colour on the obverse, although here, the latter is restricted to the orb in the lower centre. From the base version it takes its weight, and relief.

Its signature feature is the employment of gilded highlights on the reverse face, and artwork that is a less extreme crop of the full image than the base variant. It also gets that neat, gatefold packaging that Germania Mint has used on other releases, complete with a Certificate of Authenticity. A good value package.

This is the flagship coin in the range, and benefits from the superb presentation that the mint puts into these issues. Here, we have lots of high-relief, some beautiful and appropriate colour on the reverse face, and UV glow-in-the-dark runes on the obverse. The focal point is a sphere of embedded Aventurine, a green quartz mineral associated with luck, visible on both faces. Everything is held together with an attractive antique finish.

The artwork is shown in its full splendour, with the seeress depicted in full body form, and more of the environment around her visible. The obverse design is as the one-ounce pair. A very nice, rune-adorned wooden display frame rounds out the package. Germania Mint has earned a reputation for excellent display frames customised for each release, and that’s no different here, allowing the extra diameter of this two-ounce coin to shine.