Our second look at Mint XXI’s new releases is a peek into the famous, and expensive, world of porcelain, here exemplified by a circa-250 year old blue and white ‘Dragon Vase’ from the Qianlong period. We’ve seen something vaguely similar a few years ago from the Mint of Poland, that involved embedding a porcelain miniature vase in a standard coin, buts this one utilises more sophisticated minting and a bigger scale.

Indeed, the colouring of the porcelain insert is off the scale impressive. Even though it’s two-ounces and 70 mm diameter, this is still a relatively small canvas to be showing levels of fine detail this high. There’s a symbiosis of fine minting and fine porcelain here that works perfectly. The background displays some Asian-style waves and the inscribed coin title.

The obverse of this gilded silver coin displays the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II, even though issued for Ghana, and the coin comes very well presented in a latex floating frame for easy display. Chinese porcelain is a very popular collectors market and this seems an appropriate way for the coin market to contribute. Just 500 pieces will be minted.