Renaissance genius, Leonardo da Vinci, and his amazing works, are the subject of Mint XXI’s latest silver coin for Cameroon

Mint XXI has released its latest seasonal batch of coins, always eagerly awaited, and the first one we’re looking at is the spiritual successor to a fine coin they released back in 2019. That one was part of the producers ‘World’s Greatest Artists’ series, of which there were three issues, and as you can tell from the title, focused on his talents as an artist, simultaneously marking 500 years since his death.

However, Da Vinci was more than just an artist, and his abilities in science have also been the stuff of legend. His name has almost become the byword for genius, and he created many designs for machines that took centuries to come to practical fruition. It’s of little surprise, then, that he’s the subject of the second in Mint XXI’s two-ounce silver coin series, ‘Futurists of the Past’, following a superb Nicolaus Copernicus design that launched in mid-2023.

Like the Copernicus coin, the focus here is on cramming in a good range of Leonardo’s work, and there are depictions of his hang-glider, his parachute (gilded on the coin), his mad aerial screw (not to be confused with the mile-high club…), and more. There are even a couple of pieces of his incredibly famous artwork, with the Vitruvian Man in the background, and the Mona Lisa coloured in the foreground. The area of gears that arcs around to form partial headgear on the coloured portrait of Copernicus, returns in modified form for Da Vinci.

The obverse, with the partially hidden gearing, returns, and is clearly going to be a common one to the series. It suits the theme well. The coin comes boxed with a Certificate of Authenticity, and has a mintage of 500 pieces. We’re very impressed with this one, and feel Mint XXI have done justice to the man’s achievements. The use of high-relief has been expertly done, and the colouration is restrained in both vibrancy, and area. This is turning into a first class range of coins. Available to order now.

LEONARDO DA VINCI

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, was an Italian polymath, born on 15 April 1452, who contributed to the fields of invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography. He has been variously called the father of palaeontology, ichnology (the study of fossil tracks), and architecture (nonsense!), and is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time. Sometimes credited with the inventions of the parachute, helicopter and tank (all quite a stretch, to be honest), his genius epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal.

Leonardo was, and is, renowned primarily as a painter. Among his works, the Mona Lisa is the most famous portrait and The Last Supper the most reproduced religious painting of all time, with their fame approached only by Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam. Leonardo’s drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also regarded as a cultural icon, being reproduced on items as varied as the euro coin, textbooks, and T-shirts. Perhaps fifteen of his paintings have survived. Nevertheless, these few works, together with his notebooks, which contain drawings, scientific diagrams, and his thoughts on the nature of painting, compose a contribution to later generations of artists rivalled only by that of his contemporary, Michelangelo.

Leonardo is revered for his technological ingenuity. He conceptualised flying machines, a type of armoured fighting vehicle, concentrated solar power, an adding machine, and the double hull, also outlining a rudimentary theory of plate tectonics. Relatively few of his designs were constructed or were even feasible during his lifetime, as the modern scientific approaches to metallurgy and engineering were only in their infancy during the Renaissance, but some of his smaller inventions, such as an automated bobbin winder and a machine for testing the tensile strength of wire, entered the world of manufacturing unheralded. Today, Leonardo is widely considered one of the most diversely talented individuals ever to have lived.

Gallery

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION DIAMETER FINISH MINTAGE
2,000 Francs CFA (Cameroon) 62.2 g of 0.999 silver 50.0 mm Antique, Colour, Gilding 500