Coins Today brings the world of chess into stackable silver bullion, launching a pawn-inspired design with a twist

Never let it be said that the minds behind South Korean producer, Coins Today’s ‘Stackable’ range of bullion, aren’t imaginative. From ancient Korean history, to outer space technology, via medieval Europe and modern pop-culture, this range has thrown up an eclectic selection of designs, almost all of them offering outstanding aesthetics, and production quality.

Their last offering was a simple effort, inspired by the new James Webb Telescope, and our favourite, replicating the shield of the French King, Henry II, was on a whole other level of complexity and detail, but the latest is yet another detour into something different – the age-old world of chess, and starting with that most humble of pieces.

What we have here, stylistically, seems to be a merging of chess iconography, with an almost medieval religious style that we’d associate with the great cathedrals of the age. The outline of the piece is vaguely shield-like, and the background detail strongly hints at the great rose windows of buildings like Notre Dame, for example. Overlaid on that is a boxed area, bordered with something akin to a Renaissance painting’s frame, in which a cross on a shield is displayed. Above it, is the outline of a classic chess pawn, infilled with tracery. The ‘obverse’ is a negative impression of the face, and the whole thing is curved horizontally.

That curvature is used in a clever way to expand the display options. A special capsule, pictured above, allows for the display of eight of these pawn stackables in a circle, creating what could be a crown, and paying homage to the humble pawn’s numbers on a chess board side. The crown points to the pawn being as important as the King to a game. What an unusual and interesting idea! You can see it best in the video. The first of a series covering all the chess pieces, future issues will also run with this concept. However, if you only want a single piece, or two, they do come individually encapsulated in custom capsules.

The best part of all, is that this is more affordable than many of their multi-ounce, and one-kilo offerings, coming in at an ounce in weight, and then antique finished. It doesn’t prevent it being a good size, or missing out on high-relief – it has both – so there’s little to be critical of here. Affordable, unique idea, stackable for the bulk buyer, a tightly defined series, unlimited mintage, great production, and interesting display options. What’s not to love? Available to order any time now.