First appearing in the Devonian period and evolved from an animal called a Bactrite, Ammonites roamed the seas from around 400 million years ago, and didn’t die out until 65mya, a staggering period given the comparatively infinitessimal time mankind has been around. At every one of the world major extinction events only a few species of ammonites survived, but they always bounced back, until their luck finally ran out, along with the dinosaurs, at the end of the Cretaceous period.

Ammonites were predatory mollusks, very mobile and with tentacles. Very close in appearance to the still-living Nautilus, they were in fact more closely related to the octopi. Usually spiral in shape, although straight species aren’t rare, they remained buoyant using a siphuncle, basically a biological pump and siphon system. Each of the segments in the shell were a chamber that the animal resided in and the pattern of the edge of each chamber, called a a suture, is what marks out each species. Fossils are plentiful and range from the tiny up to a colossal two meters in diameter, and they’re extraordinarily useful in dating rock formations.

The Ammonite has appeared on coins in several forms over the last decade, most notably in CIT’s stunning Evolution of Life series, but also from others incorporating actual fossils. Numicollect have taken a more hand-crafted style for their series, with the reverse featuring a very high-relief, copper-plated ammonite fossil, that appears embedded embedded in a rock nodule. There’s no rim, and the edge is unbound, thus uneven, heightening the effect of a natural find.

That is further enhanced by the obverse, that has no defined, flattened shape, taking on that ‘rock’ look fully. It’s all antique finished, which seems to suit the design well. The coin comes boxed with a certificate of authenticity, and the mintage is capped at 499 pieces. An interesting debut in a series featuring a subject that seems perennially popular in the modern coin world. Available to pre-order now.