Retro themes are becoming more popular of late, not just in numismatics, because people are yearning for simpler times. Our world has layers upon layers of complexity and obligation, and we’re seeing a growing interest in the refreshing earlier period when technology was seen as an enabler, and not the master it seems to have become today.

Probably the greatest culprit in that is the smartphone, that now seems to be the lynch pin of the younger generations whole life, so interest in the first wave of them is particularly interesting. We’ve already seen Powercoin dig into this as part of their ‘Techstalgic’ series, and now Precious Metal Collectors are joining them with a Blackberry-inspired QWERTY phone, named after the physical keyboard inbuilt into it. Blackberry released their first phone in 2002, and became very popular in 2006 with the release of the Blackberry Pearl. However, they were slow to evolve, and were out of the market completely by 2020.

The two-ounce silver coin is fashioned after one of the most popular layouts, used by various companies at the time, with its relatively large screen, and equally large physical keyboard below it. It’s hard to find fault with the look of this one, especially the coloured variant, which is eerily on-point with is depiction of the interface in particular. The gilded version is less successful in that, but perhaps more coin-like overall. The choice is yours, of course.

The obverse works well, showing the back internals of the phone with the battery removed. The SIM tray is gilded, as is the contacts for the battery. Again, I prefer the base coin to the gilded one as a piece of nostalgia. The total mintage of the coin is 399 pieces, with 250 of those coloured, and the remainder gilded. Box are boxed with a certificate of authenticity, and are up for pre-order today. A neat look back at a device that was certainly clunkier and less adept than today’s incredible phones, but one ultimately less damaging societally.