Coins Today takes a detour from the past to the future with its latest space telescope inspired silver bullion stacker

We’ve all been utterly enthralled by images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope since its deployment in 1990. It wasn’t the first of its kind, but it was the most adventurous of them, and remains active to this day, perhaps even for another 15 years. However, a quick trip down memory lane will highlight just how far technology has progressed since then, and so, on 25th December 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope was launched.

Designed to undertake infrared astrophotography, the JWST is a quantum leap in capability compared to Hubble, and the largest of its kind ever put into space. The early images sent back to Earth are, quite simply, breathtaking, and it’s only just getting started. The JWST’s mirror is made up of 18 hexagonal segments, all made of gilded beryllium. In total, the segments form a mirror of 6.5 metre diameter, vastly larger than HST’s 2.4 m. which gives it around a six-fold increase in area. It’s also the telescopes most visible feature, which brings us to Coins Today’s latest stacker coin.

Inspired by the JWST’s soon to be iconic main mirror, this is a two-ounce silver stacker coin that depicts the eighteen-segment mirror, complete with gilding, along with a small optics subsystem nub in the centre. It’s this latter feature that provides the stackability, allowing it to lock into a recess on the back of another coin. The obverse is extremely simple, nothing like some of this Korean producer’s more ambitious offerings, but it gets the job done.

A marked departure from the exquisite shield series, it’s good to see them experiment with new ideas. With the James Webb Space Telescope in the news, something inspired by it is bound to have appeal, and with an unlimited mintage, we’re not expecting premiums to be too large. Available any time now.