Christmas is coming, and Mint XXI debuts a pair of half-ounce silver coins featuring Santa, and his android doppelgänger

We rarely cover coins themed for the holidays, like Christmas, Easter, and the like, as they tend to be heavily skewed towards the gift market, rather than for the collectors who frequent our establishment, It doesn’t help that most of them lack any kind of imagination, something that you can find in abundance in the modern coin world.

However, this new one from Mint XXI caught my eye with its quirky take on the star of the show, Father Christmas himself. It’s actually a pair of coins, sold individually, not as a set, and while they have fundamentally the same design, there are enough twists on it to differentiate them. The first is a portrait of Santa, a decorated tree in the background, adjusting his flying goggles, obviously about to get on his sleigh. The second design is Cyber Santa, complete with robotic parts, digital goggles, and a future cityscape in the background. A neat take on our modern desire for digital gadgetry.

The coins are issued for Cameroon, and weigh in at a wallet-friendly half-ounce each. They come in nicely themed boxes, a different colour for each, and with a Certificate of Authenticity. Only 500 of each will be struck. Available to order now, they will ship ready for gifting at Christmas.