The eighth annual release in German producer, Emporium Hamburg’s, ‘World’s Wildlife’ bullion range is now upon us, and continuing the cycle of land, sea, air that has characterised the range to date, we’re back in the ocean for 2026, with its most iconic inhabitants – sharks. We’re pretty sure you all know what a shark is, how awesome they are, and how crappily they’re treated by humans, so let’s just jump straight into the coins that make up this release.

The key format for the range has always been the one-ounce bullion coin, which carries an identical design over its various formats. The image here is brilliant (speaking as a shark nut), depicting probably the last thing a penguin sees should it encounter the Great White Shark on a bad day! Singularly focused, and with the extensive, multi-layered dentition we all notice straight away, this close-up of a breaching shark fills the coin perfectly, something a more general view of the whole animal couldn’t.

In silver, we have a cleanly struck version making up the bulk of the numbers (30,000), but in true EH style, there are also partially gilded, and partially coloured variants, both having a mintage of 5,000 units each. In addition to those, a gold bullion coin of the same weight is offered, capped at 1,000 pieces. A fine design showcasing one of nature’s most impressive predators.

Emporium Hamburg have a history of proof coin sets based around their various bullion series, and World’s Wildlife is no exception to that. The beauty of EH’s approach is that these are not just higher-quality proof strikes of the bullion coins, but benefit from the addition of all new designs that are limited to the set. The shark set has a one-ounce, and a 1/10 ounce coin that are used elsewhere, but the half and quarter ounce coins are unique to the set, depicting a Whale Shark, and (I think) a Great White Shark, respectively. Obviously, that’s frustrating if you want one of those specific designs at a lower cost, but it’s a separate item, and the rest of the range is well catered for.

The four-coin set comes boxed with a Certificate of Authenticity, and just 300 sets will be produced. As an alternative to the two-ounce proof gold coin, I’d take this in a heartbeat for the greater variety, even though at 1.85oz overall, it weighs a little less. We’d like to see a silver set like this for those less well-heeled, especially given the gold set is a €10,000+ proposition. In addition, there’s a two-ounce proof (using the one-ounce design) coin offered for the first time, and a half-gram proof minigold (sharing the set 1/10 Hammerhead Shark image), the latter of which we think is an essential release these days, whether in proof or bullion forms.