It’s fair to say that Agoro has done well with its trading coin concept, which has grown to encompass a much broader range of franchises since its debut in 2023 with Star Wars, a big name of course. We have our concerns with the format, but if you’re fine with just getting a few random coins in the series, they are very well produced, and perfectly aimed at their target audience.

The concept is simple enough. You buy sealed boxes containing two randomly inserted designs from a total of 55 overall. There are five subsets of ten coins, grouped by theme and colour (see below), with each subset having different mintages, and thus rarity. These are all 1oz silver coins (ten of them are gilded), but also mixed in are five 1/4oz gold coins with a mintage of 2 of each, and a single 1oz gold coin, literally 1 of 1. You do not know what is in the box before purchase. If you’re happy to get a couple of random coins in your $449 USD purchase, then you’re fine. If you want a specific design, you’re in for a painful, and expensive journey.

This series is called The Art of Marvel, and features some of the terrific quality art that has adorned comic books over the years. The sets of 10 are themed such as green being ‘Classic Realism’, and purple ‘Fine Art Realism’. The black ‘Onyx’ series of 1/4oz gold coins depict Marvel heroes, while the solitary 1oz gold chase coin features a vintage Wolverine. The set itself is well done, but the value is something you’re going to have to assess for yourself. Personally, I think the concept would work better as a larger, more affordable range of sub-5g foils, but these seem popular enough to prove a market exists.

We’ve long argued that the huge dimensions created by the silver foil type of coin is an ideal format to use for maps and other document-type themes. Both CIT and Agoro have done so in the past, to great effect, and we originally thought this would be another of those. However, what we actually have here is a solid, five-ounce silver coin, antique-finished, and sporting some colour highlighting.

Depicting Westeros, part of the fantasy world created by author, George R.R. Martin in his epic ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ saga, the map has relief, and the sigils of the various houses picked out in red. On the obverse are 12 banners, 10 of them containing those sigils, one with the Niue issue details, and one with a serial number. The coin is presented in a custom acrylic display block. I really like this one, but at five ounces, it isn’t a cheap purchase, but you can hardly blame Agoro for the precious metal madness we’ve had of late. Nice.

Founded in 1946, most of the boys in the 1960s and through to the advent of video games, grew up with at least one Tonka toy. Made of metal, these construction vehicles were the source of endless hours of fun, and famed for their sturdy construction. Hundreds of different models were produced, continuing to this day, but they have a tough time with so much competition for attention elsewhere.

The third and final coin in the Tonka series launched this month, and it’s a brilliant reconstruction of the iconic bulldozer, struck in an ounce of silver. It follows a dump truck, and a front loader, both of which are equally fantastic. Whatever your association, if any, with Tonka toys, you have to concede how perfectly realised Agoro’s homage to the brand is. With bang-on packaging, and impressive obverse faces as well, it’s hard to imagine a better nod to a childhood icon than these, and a big step-up from their 2022 effort.

We’ve covered these series before, as we’re big fans of the silver foil format here, and Agoro does utilise it in some very appropriate ways, with film posters, and comic book covers getting special attention. These new ones have benefitted from a few refinements in the way they’re packaged, and more importantly, what they depict. Both foils are sealed in acrylic, and come in a box that doubles up as a
stand to make display easy. There really is little to be critical of
here. The concept art series in particular is an inspired choice, and
the art for the Mandalorian series is well chosen.

The C3-PO foil is the third in a series that reproduces some of the incredible concept art created by the legendary Ralph McQuarrie, and said to be the image that convinced Anthony Daniels to audition for the role in the first place. It’s quite impressive how much of McQuarrie’s art made it to screen so closely, and this piece showing us early renditions of the iconic droids is uncanny.

The other foil is the second in the ‘Legends of Mandalore’ series, following the debut Djarin and Grogu image on the first one. Here we have that fan favourite scene when Luke Skywalker is revealed as the mystery Jedi that carved his way through the Dark Troopers. Justifiably popular, it’s easy to see why it was chosen to be the subject of a silver foil.