As you progress through this article, you’ll get an idea of the level of excellence on display here, but for me and my love of archaeology at least, this one, featuring the incredible rock-cut town of Petra in southern Jordan, is a real stand-out. It’s the biggest of the coins we’re looking at here, tipping the scales at five ounces, so also the most expensive, but it’s hard to see how this could be pulled off with a smaller blank.

The style seems to draw inspiration from the mints Topography series, utilising extreme levels of incuse relief, rather than high, and the result is a perfect numismatic rendering of the famous treasury in Petra, a 40-metre-high structure carved into the sandstone rock face, from which the name ‘Rose City’ is derived. This two-millennia old structure is very impressive to behold, covering in decorative carvings and extending back into the cliff. I’ve embedded an awesome render of Al-Khazeh (the local name of the building) from the Zamanai Project you should find fascinating, which is an actual scan of the site.

The coin has the building completely below the main surface of the coin, essentially high-relief but from a low level. It’s an extraordinary example of smartmintings ability to do this, and yet maintain detail, all while having abrupt changes in relief. CIT’s mastery of colour, equalled by few, is also in evidence here, even on the sides of the deep relief edges. The shaped top edge of the coin, complete with reeding, is an impressive touch.

The obverse is covered by an Arabic carpet style pattern, over which is placed the required effigy of King Charles III. A very impressive coin, and one which we hope spawns future releases, perhaps the Egyptian temple at Abu Simbel, another UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This three-ounce silver coin, resplendent in its antique finish with gilded highlights, takes us back to a time when people travelled around Europe, taking in the famous sites, and there are few places on Earth like Europe for packing those in. The design is an ambitious one, seeking to cram into a single design some 21 different sites of interest, from a beach in Turkey, to a railway in Scotland. There’s a graphic below that points them all out, and it’s a varied selection, from a couple of natural features, to the architecture and art of man.

It’s clever how the coin designer has managed to incorporate so many disparate elements into a single, cohesive design, but they’ve managed it regardless. Hidden in the design, and in future ones, is a cat, said to be the mascot of the series. Our site moggie Cossack is jealous, and is sure he would have won any audition. It’s an amazing composition, utilising a similar look and style to CIT’s hit Steampunk series, of which a one-kilo variant of the Carnival coin also debuted today. In addition to that antiqued finish with gilded highlights, some parts are left clean with a proof finish. The obverse is a simple one, however, but I’m sure King Chuck will be proud to adorn this coin.

Another new series, and a pleasingly affordable one-ounce in weight, Santa Maria is the first release in ‘Legends of the Seas’, which will focus on famous historical ships, and the people that made them famous. This particular ship is an extremely famous one, having been the flagship of the three-ship fleet that took the Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus, from Spain to North America. He’s widely known in the US as the discoverer of America, which is completely false, and in recent years, his reputation has been more grounded in reality, as he’s now seen less as a hero, and more of a villain for his treatment of the locals, and his greed – something his contemporaries also believed.

The ship, La Santa María de la Inmaculada Concepción (The Holy Mary of the Immaculate Conception), was a very small ship to be attempting an Atlantic crossing in. At just 18.9 metres in length, and displacing under 150 tons, this carrack had just a single deck, and three small masts. The other two ships, the caravels Nina and Pinta, displaced barely half that. None of the trio were new at the time. The crossing was an incredible achievement. The ship ran aground in 1492, and her timbers were used to build a fort in Haiti, where one of the six anchors resides to this day.

I’m a big fan of nautical coins, and the depiction of the ship on this one is amongst the finest I’ve seen on a coin. The wind blown sails are expertly rendered in high-relief, and the perspective is perfectly realised. Columbus is depicted in the background, in what appears to be a decent likeness given the conflicting nature of the known contemporary portraits of him. The obverse looks good, although not as impressive as the reverse, with the old map in the background being a highlight for me. A series we’ll be keeping a close eye on. HMS Victory next guys?

You can tell from my company name, Tigris Regem in the footer, that I’m a lover of the Tiger, the ultimate big cat, and an apex predator of breathtaking ability. The largest feline in the world, and one of the largest in history, the Tiger needs little introduction, so we’ll skip straight to the coin, which is the first in a new series called Black & White.

If you want to show black on a coin, there are few better ways to do it than using CIT’s Obsidian Black colouring, which creates an intense contrast with silver, or in this case, white. Here, there’s a high-relief portrait of this incredible hunter, using a monochrome palette. It’s as simple as that, and that’s all it needs. The result is striking.

The obverse features that traditional Cook Islands effigy of King Charles III, but here it’s sited over a tiger print pattern, with the whole surface finished in Obsidian Black. We’re pleased to see that it’s only an ounce in weight again, keeping it more affordable.

Finally, we have the sixth, and sadly the last, in the superb ‘Legends’ series, which showcases powerful groups of people throughout history. Launching in 2021 with a Terracotta Warriors coin, subsequent issues were the Egyptian Pharaohs, the Spartans, Cowboys, and the Aztecs. The series concludes with Savage Vikings, a title that leans into the popular mythos around this Norse culture, but one that is perhaps a little harsh, for what was a complex, agrarian society, considerably more harmonious than popular culture would have you believe.

The coin is a real highlight to go out on. The reverse face keeps the series design ethos in place by depicting a trio of figures in traditional garb, and in smartminted high relief. In this case, the central figure is meant to be the infamous Viking warrior, Ragnar Lothbrok, dressed in furs, and wearing the horned helmet, which Vikings didn’t use except in popular culture over the last 200 years. The helmet and sword hilt are gilded on the three ounce silver coin, but not on the one ounce. He is flanked by his sons, Ivar the Boneless, and Bjorn Ironside. The obverse has a superb rendition of a Viking Longship, under sail, with a Norse-style pattern in the background field. A stunning coin.

Joining the two silver coins is a 0.5 gram minigold variant, and we’re blown away by the level of detail exhibited on this tiny 11 mm diameter coin. It’s terrific to see this format come as far as it has, especially today, when the price of gold has made smaller coins more attractive for many. A fine end to a fine series. Earlier issues have had one-ounce gold, and copper coins added, and we’d expect the same here.