Guan Yu makes the jump from a two dimensional coin, to a three dimensional ten-ounce silver miniature

Along with the New Zealand Mint and Coins Today, the Mint of Gdansk has released some quite outstanding silver cast miniatures, but is unique in actually making them legal tender coins as well. The first of them was a brilliant Geralt of Rivia statue, a detailed rendering of the hero of the popular ‘The Witcher’ novels by Polish author, Andrzej Sapkowski, which was available in two sizes, and was the first of a planned 12-issue series.

This time, the mint has chosen to issue a tie-in to their earlier Guan Yu silver coin, with a solitary ten-ounce silver cast figurine. We’re going to straight up say that this is an incredible piece of work. The images are decent, but not particularly high-res, so please check out the video lower down for a better look at just how good this is.

Guan Yu stands with a Tiger Spear in hand, a very dynamic looking pose, and alongside him is a classic Asian dragon. The detail on both is quite phenomenal, with tons of tiny flowing touches throughout. This must have been a difficult subject to cast to this standard. Rather than a standard flat base, there is a piece of landscape to give the scene that little bit more authenticity. The whole thing is antique finished.

Standing around 100 mm in height, it’s a good-sized item, akin to the typical one-kilo silver coin in width. It comes boxed with a Certificate of Authenticity, and only 200 will be produced. A terrific alternative to a traditional coin for those that like to be a little more experimental with their precious metal coin collections.

Also coming along at the same time as Guan Yu are a couple of other items. We’ve included them below, even though both are not really what we cover here. The first of the pair is a coloured version of the Archangel Michael bullion coin from Ukraine, which is limited to just 200 pieces, and with the sale of each coin, a donation of 60 PLN (about 13 Euros) goes to humanitarian organisations aiding Ukrainian refugees. It’s been UV printed in Ukrainian colours, and partially gilded. It comes boxed with a certificate.

As with aftermarket modified bullion coins, we also don’t cover paper banknotes, but this one ties in with the mints ‘Punk Universe’ coin, and we had a little space in this article, so here it is. This isn’t a silver foil, unfortunately, it’s a paper note employing many security techniques used on actual legal tender notes today, like holograms, watermarks, UV lettering, etc. It’s denominated in an old Gdańsk currency, so it isn’t legal tender, but buyers of the coin may want to pick one up as it’s quite a neat companion piece. Some 5,000 will be made available.