We’ve been covering Lunar coins a little less over the last few years, but we’re always interested when a new series debuts, and that’s the case with this new range of half-ounce silver coins from Mint XXI. Issued for Cameroon, the first release is for the 2027 Year of the Goat, sometimes also the sheep or ram.

The design is very Chinese in style, so quite different from the Perth Mint’s benchmark offering that has moved to realism for Series III. Next year is more specifically the year of the Red Fire Goat, so we have a suitably coloured animal, with flame-like hair, as the main subject, and it sits over a classic Chinese mountain scene in the background. The obverse has that iconic yin-yang symbol at its centre, surrounded by the Chinese characters for the 12 animals.

There are three variants available. The proof coin has brighter colouring and a mirror proof finish, with a mintage of 500 pieces. Sharing the mintage is a black proof coin, which not only has darker colouring on the mountain, but a moon has been added to the sky. Nice to see the extra thought imparted on this one. The gilded coin has similar background colouring to the proof coin, complete with a moonless sky, although the Chinese character is now coloured red. All three variants are neatly boxed with a Certificate of Authenticity, and are available to pre-order now.