We’ve long been partial to the Lithuanian Mint, especially for their eclectic designs, often emanating from the creative minds of local artists, like the superb ‘World of Cryptids’ series, and the pretty ‘Elements’ series. They do issue quite a few solitary designs as well, which we’re big fans of, as not everything released needs to be tied to the commitment of a series. Their latest pair are also unusual in being issued for Liberia, rather than the Niue coins the mint is known for.

The first of them features a subject close to the heart of precious metal coin collectors – gold mining. The California Gold Rush wasn’t the first of its type, nor the biggest, but it was the largest by far in the United States, and one that captured the popular consciousness more than others, inspiring countless books, films, and television shows.

The design of this 2oz silver coin is by artist Valeriia Lutfullina, and depicts a packed scene of prospectors panning for gold by the water’s edge. There are lots of little touches scattered around, from a bear, to ships in the background, and the sense of depth is well handled, with no jarring scaling issues. The foreground is filled with a classically dressed prospector, holding a pan filled with matrix, and in his right hand he holds a gold nugget. In an especially neat addition, the gold nugget is exactly that, formed from a 0.1 gram piece of gold inset into the coin. This isn’t just a bit of gilding.

The obverse also sports some fine high-relief, here used to depict the tools of the trade, and a little bit of security… All together, one of the better depictions of the pivotal time in US history. It comes in a wooden box, complete with a Certificate of Authenticity, and the mintage is capped at 500 pieces. The coin will release on the 27th of this month.

The second coin, designed by Arianna Cicconi, an artist we’re huge fans of (she did Art Mint’s Elementals and Civilisation coins, amongst others), fast forwards to the 1920s, and jumps to the east coast of the USA, for a coin inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby. The book shines a spotlight on a hedonistic period, through the eyes and actions of a largely unpleasant cast of characters. It wasn’t a huge hit on release, but garnered a huge boost in popularity and reputation in the 1940s, after his death.

The coin does a fine job of spotlighting the excess of the period, and the sense of style of the Art Deco movement. It’s a fine play on the much loved cover art called ‘Celestial Eyes’, by Francis Cugat, but with many twists (the eyes are no longer a woman’s, for example). There are 8 inset crystals, a pair of them doubling up as jewellery, and while I’m not usually a fan of these, they do suit the theme somewhat. Overall, it evokes the period, and the theme of the novel remarkably well.

The obverse does depict the eye and lips of the original book’s dust-jacket, but here, it’s employed as the background for another look at the hedonistic party atmosphere that forms the setting for the story. The elegant hand is dripping with jewellery, but there are no inset crystals on this face, and, in my opinion at least, it edges it as the superior face.

Again, this is a two-ounce antique-finished coin, with a mintage of 500. The gloss black box suits the theme so much better than a plain wooden one would, and it’s all quite a suave piece of numismatic art. A great homage to a forgotten time, and to the centennial of a seminal piece of American literature.