The Mint of Poland adds the Velociraptor to its lenticular-effect Dinosauria range of silver coins

The Mint of Poland has issued the second in its six-coin ‘Dinosauria’ series, and following Tyrannosaurus Rex, we have another favourite from the Jurassic Park franchise, the Velociraptor. This small predator, barely bigger than a turkey, is believed to have hunted in packs, so would have been quite a fearsome hunter in the undergrowth. It’s also a popular, and widely recognised dinosaur, so the inclusion here is of little surprise.

The design ethos of this set is consistent across the six coins as each of them is oval, and depicts a young dinosaur inside a broken open egg. The dinosaur artwork is clean and colourful, although it has the whiff of A.I. about it. That’s okay, as these are clearly not aimed at the palaeontologist, and the cutesy depictions make these a potential hit with the kids. Combined with the 16.8 gram weight, which will keep the cost down, and these seem aimed at the casual collector.

The big thing with these coins is the implementation of a lenticular effect. For those who haven’t heard of it, it’s a technique whereby a pair of images are overlaid, and applied in such a way that the viewing angle dictates which of them you see. Angling the coin from left to right, for example, will see the image change from one to the other. There have been a few coins in the past that have utilised a similar effect, often for security purposes, as they’re notoriously difficult to counterfeit, but it’s rare to see them done in this way.

The Cameroon obverse will be common to the series. Each coin comes presented in a ‘nimbus-style’ latex frame for easy display, and there’s a box that will hold the whole set, although we’ve neither seen it for sale, nor know when or how it will be sold. A nice touch, though, and something we wish more producers would do for their pre-determined sets. Available to order now.