APMEX tiptoes through the dark imagination of H.P. Lovecraft with its first Cthulhu bullion coin release

The tortured mind of Howard Phillips Lovecraft brought forth one of the most vivid and unusual fictional universes in the history of literature. The Cthulhu Mythos spans billions of years and is populated by creatures of almost unimaginable size and power. Starting from a tiny spark, (Lovecraft was largely unknown in his lifetime), it has grown into an expansive and incredibly imaginative supernatural universe.

Cthulhu itself, the central entity in this pantheon, is described as “A monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind.” Obviously, with looks like that, it’s going to make a strikingly different subject for a bullion coin, so the first in a new series from APMEX is off to a flying start.

Depicting Cthulhu, now fully awake and attacking a steamship, it does a good job showing us just how alien Lovecraft’s creation is. It’s a bullion coin, of course, so lacks the crisp definition of a proof strike, but a different market, so that’s okay. The text around the edge is inscribed mirrored and is a chant of the Cult of Cthulhu. Issued for Tokelau, the obverse carries the effigy of QEII (the oldest living entity in the universe…), but in a neat touch, has the steamship journey to R’yleh running around the edge.

Two one ounce variants make up the range. The 0.9999 gold coin comes with a Certificate of Authenticity, but not a box, and will have a mintage of just 100 pieces. The 0.999 silver coin is equally tight on the mintage, being capped at only 10,000 pieces. Something new, we like this one for that alone and look forward to future releases in this most fantastic of worlds.