Bullion round-up 16: Ships on the water, superheroes under it, bulls, leopards and the arcade classic Dig-Dug

Welcome to our sixteenth bullion coin round-up since we started doing these, and the second in March. It’s been a busy month for new issues, and the selection of designs and formats continues to impress. We’d hoped to have this one published earlier today, but they always take longer than expected to collate all the images and specs, etc., but we get there eventually.

The big releases this time are the sixth entrants in both the African Leopard, and Nautical Ounce series. Both are popular ranges, and the antiqued high-relief versions of the latter are hands-down our favourites of this selection. APMEX have expanded their Looney Tunes and videogame ranges, and there are new popular culture offerings, of course. A nice gold bullion tenth from the Royal Spanish Mint rounds out another nice selection. It remains a good time to be a bullion collector. Until next time.

2023 AFRICAN WILDLIFE: LEOPARD (Emporium Hamburg)

Now on its sixth issue, the Somali Leopard is a sister series to the longer running, and more widely known, Somali Elephant series. They feature a similar design ethos, both coming from Emporium Hamburg, with a wide, pronounced border, and an unencumbered image of the animal in the centre. We only have renders at present, but they tease a good-looking image (although the eyeballs look a little off, we’ll put that down to the artwork for now).

Like the Elephant range, there’s usually quite an extensive range of offerings. The base one-ounce silver bullion coin also comes in coloured and gilded variants, and there’s a gold one as well, with the same weight. Earlier years have also had kilo silver coins in different finishes, four-coin fractional gold sets, and even a five-ounce gold proof. A tiny mintage platinum coin has also been available in the past. These often appear as the year progresses.

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION WEIGHT DIAMETER FINISH MINTAGE BOX / COA
100 Shillings (Somalia) 0.999 silver 31.1 g 38.6 mm B / UNC 30,000 NO / NO
100 Shillings (Somalia) 0.999 silver 31.1 g 38.6 mm BU, Colour 5,000 NO / NO
100 Shillings (Somalia) 0.999 silver 31.1 g 38.6 mm BU, Gilded 5,000 NO / NO
1,000 Shillings (Somalia) 0.9999 gold 31.1 g 38.6 mm B / UNC 1,000 NO / NO

2022 NAUTICAL OUNCE: USS CONSTITUTION (LEV Leipzig)

We’ve always liked the Nautical Ounce series, taking the incused minting style of the popular Rwandan African Ounce series, and translating it into one featuring ships from the golden age of sail. The sixth issue in the range depicts a ship legendary in the USA, the USS Constitution, still afloat, and the oldest warship in the world to be so. The bullion coins, one in gold and one in silver, sport a terrific image of the ship under full sail. It’s a series signature look, and was used for the Sedov, Santa Maria, Victoria, Endeavour and Mayflower issues.

The star of the show, even though not a bullion coin, are the gorgeous high-relief antiqued versions, available in one, or three ounce weights. We’ll let the pictures do the talking, but we’re super impressed with the look of these, and the antique finish suits them perfectly. They really show off the designs to their full potential.

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION WEIGHT DIAMETER FINISH MINTAGE BOX / COA
50 Francs (Rwanda) 0.999 silver 31.1 g 40.0 mm B / UNC Unltd NO / NO
100 Francs (Rwanda) 0.999 gold 31.1 g 40.0 mm B / UNC 100 YES / YES
50 Francs (Rwanda) 0.999 silver 31.1 g 40.0 mm PROOF 1,000 YES / YES
50 Francs (Rwanda) 0.999 silver 31.1 g 40.0 mm ANTIQUE 1,000 NO / YES
1,000 Francs (Rwanda) 0.999 silver 93.3 g 60.0 mm ANTIQUE 500 NO / YES

2023 DIG-DUG 40TH ANNIVERSARY (APMEX)

APMEX seem to have had a lot of success with its videogame inspired bullion rounds over the last few years, kicking off with Space Invaders, but garnering much attention from its various Pac-Man releases. They do throw in some of the less well known arcade machines, and their latest is a personal favourite – Dig-Dug. This classic game still turns up occasionally on some of the newer handheld consoles, or on emulators, and is well worth tracking down.

It’s the game’s 40th anniversary, making me feel ancient, and the coin captures all the elements of the game perfectly, including the hero, his pump weapon making short work of a Pooka, while a Fygar looks on. Don’t blame me, I didn’t name them… The usual mix of silver (coloured and uncoloured), along with proof gold and silver, making up the range. A nostalgic treat, and one we’ll add to our very large videogame coin thematic guide.

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION WEIGHT DIAMETER FINISH MINTAGE BOX / COA
NONE 0.999 silver 31.1 g 39 mm B / UNC 10,000 NO / NO
NONE 0.999 silver 31.1 g 39 mm BU, Colour 1,982 SLAB / NO
NONE 0.999 silver 31.1 g 39 mm PROOF 140 YES / YES
NONE 0.9999 gold 31.1 g 32 mm PROOF 40 YES / YES

2023 LOONY TUNES: TWEETY (APMEX)

For those tired of the endless run of Disney coins, the classic world of Looney Tunes will come as a welcome release. Personally, the Warner Brothers cartoons have always been vastly superior to Disney’s incessant saccharin stories, offering chaos and comedy in far greater amounts. The roster of characters is also second to none, and this bullion series has already seen Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and the brilliant Road-Runner appear in it. The latest coin is another favourite, Tweety, the nemesis of Sylvester the cat.

A very simple, but also very effective design, it fits the Looney Tunes concept well. There’s a silver coin with a 15k mintage, topped off with a coloured variant limited to a further 3,000 units, the latter coming in the APMEX TEP slab. For the collector, there are also gold and silver proof coins with very small mintages.

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION WEIGHT DIAMETER FINISH MINTAGE BOX / COA
NONE 0.999 silver 31.1 g 39 mm B / UNC 15,000 NO / NO
NONE 0.999 silver 31.1 g 39 mm BU, Colour 3,000 SLAB / NO
NONE 0.999 silver 31.1 g 39 mm PROOF 250 YES / YES
NONE 0.9999 gold 31.1 g 32 mm PROOF 150 YES / YES

2023 SPANISH BULL (FMNT Spanish Mint)

Last year saw the Royal Spanish Mint debut a new, small gold bullion coin, sporting a high mintage for the metal, and reproducing the design of the previous year’s one-ounce coin. Tipping the scales at a tenth of an ounce, the Lynx was a nice looking coin for its size, and that trend continues with this nice bull design, reproducing the 2022 one-ounce offering.

A powerful looking animal, and packing some impressive tackle, we don’t have any complaints on the depiction. The attractive obverse returns, with the same Columnario del Real de a Ocho (columns of the eight reales), either side of a two hemispheres image, on it. The mintage is a hefty 50,000 units, up from the one-ounce variant’s 15,000.

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION WEIGHT DIAMETER FINISH MINTAGE BOX / COA
0.15 Euro (Spain) 0.9999 gold 3.11 g 16.25 mm B / UNC 50,000 NO / NO
1.50 Euro (Spain) 0.9999 gold 31.1 g 37.2 mm B / UNC 15,000 NO / NO

2023 NUMBER PI 314 (MDM)

One of the more curious themes for a bullion series, the number ‘pi’, which starts 3.14, now has its own ‘Pi-Day’ which is, in the US date system, 3/14. Taking it even further, this series has the extremely unusual denomination of $3.14, specifically for the Solomon Islands. This is the third annual issue, following 2020 and 2021 coins (none in 2022, we believe), and the first to go with a stylised design instead of a portrait of someone involved with this fascinating number.

It is a less attractive design than the previous pair, in our view, but still good, and quite imaginative, packing many neat mathematical touches into it. It’s worth picking up for its very eclectic subject matter alone, and the mintage of just 5,000 pieces makes it even more attractive.

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION WEIGHT DIAMETER FINISH MINTAGE BOX / COA
$3.14 (Solomon Islands) 0.999 silver 31.1 g 38.61 mm B / UNC 5,000 NO / NO

2023 AQUAMAN (APMEX)

Continuing their new trip through DC Comic’s characters, the Samoan bullion range dives under the sea with Aquaman. It’s a classic pose, looking like it’s jumped straight off the pages of a Silver Age comic book, with that view solidified with a coloured version in the classic style. Comic book fans will love the move away from the more modernistic style exemplified by the big movie universes.

There’s silver and gold versions, both an ounce in weight, with the former also enjoying an aforementioned coloured variant, which comes in one of those NGC-like slabs that APMEX calls TEP. They aren’t graded, however. The gold comes in a tin with a COA. We only looked at the first issue, Batman, at the beginning of this month, so we could be in for a quick release schedule moving forward.

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION WEIGHT DIAMETER FINISH MINTAGE BOX / COA
$5 (Samoa) 0.999 silver 31.1 g 39.0 mm B / UNC 15,000 NO / NO
$5 (Samoa) 0.999 silver 31.1 g 39.0 mm B / UNC, colour 2,500 SLAB / NO
$25 (Samoa) 0.999 gold 31.1 g 32.0 mm B / UNC 150 NO / NO

2023 DISNEY CLASSIC: MICKEY & DONALD (New Zealand Mint)

The latest Disney bullion coin doesn’t wander too far from a well trodden path, and this is the ninth in the classic character’s subset. Two of Disney’s biggest stars appear together on this one, with Mickey and Donald depicted together as buddies. The usual clean background means they’re also all that appears on the coin. The obverse of this Niue issue uses that micronation’s coat-of-arms, rather than the monarch’s effigy.

Like the last issues, Scrooge McDuck’s 75th anniversary, there isn’t a gold version, so just a solitary one-ounce silver coin in the range. We’ve noticed this trend with the last two in the Holiday’s subset as well, so perhaps that’s the new normal.

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION WEIGHT DIAMETER FINISH MINTAGE BOX / COA
$2 NZD (Niue) 0.999 silver 31.1 g 39 mm B / UNC 15,000 NO / NO