July at the Perth Mint is reminiscent of June with a mix of classics and modern culture themed coins

Much like June, July sees a mix of coloured proof coins, depicting popular culture franchises with increasing regularity, alongside premium versions of the core bullion ranges. The Simpsons and the DC Comics Extended Universe (DCEU), are back, as are the Australian Nugget and the Kangaroo in proof form.

A very unusual addition is a gold-filled domed Egyptian themed coin that is part of the mints loose 2oz antiqued range of eclectic designs. We’ll look at that separately later today. All the coins are available to order from today, both directly from the mint, and from one of their numerous dealers worldwide.

2019 SUICIDE SQUAD: HARLEY QUINN

As we said last month with the Joker issue, we’re surprised this distinctly average comic book movie got a coin release at all, let alone a series, but here we are with the second, and there’s a third on the way next month. Not much more to say than we said last month. A sharp image on a clean-struck themed background is an easy coin for the Perth Mint, as they’ve been doing them well for years.

The official images we got before release showed a different box, this one being the clear one meant to be displayed vertically, rather than the black one with the clear lid that The Joker came in. We’re not sure why the change, or if it’s simply a case of incorrect press images, but something to keep an eye out for if you plan on displaying them as a set.

Margot Robbie’s stint as Joker sidekick Harley Quinn is the subject and it’s a good looking piece, no doubt helped along by having Margot on it. She was actually the breakout performer in the movie (admittedly not a major achievement), so we’d expect this one to be more popular than next months Will Smith ‘Deadshot’ coin.  A 5,000 mintage and a price of $115.00 AUD.

2019 AUSTRALIAN NUGGET: WELCOME STRANGER

The Australian Nugget bullion coin saw a gilded proof variant hit shelves last month, which was a better looking coin than the original simply because it played to the subject matter – a big ass lump of gold. Despite having the talented Stuart Devlin as its designer, we weren’t particularly enamoured with the design, simply because a molten mass of metal is hardly picturesque compared to a kangaroo, for example.

The gold proof coins are now with us and they haven’t changed our minds. Available as a four-coin set with fractionals, or as a ¼oz gold packaged individually, we suspect this will appeal to a very specific type of collector, rather than the more casual buyer of $4,500 AUD coin sets – hence the tight 200 mintage. The solitary coin is $799.00 AUD, but sales are restricted to Australia.

2019 THE SIMPSONS: MARGE SIMPSON

The latest Simpsons coin features the series matriarch, Marge Simpson. If you’ve seen the earlier coins, you’ll know just what to expect here. Fans will probably love it, non-fans won’t take any notice. We like it, but it lacks ambition , which is a shame. It’s $115.000 AUD and has a 5,000 mintage.

2019 AUSTRALIAN DOUBLE SOVEREIGN

Like the age old Sovereign put out by the Royal Mint in the United Kingdom, this is a design that has soldiered on for some time and puts in a regular annual appearance. Unfortunately, while the UK coin has the classic, dynamic Pistrucci design, this one is much simpler in comparison. Still, it has a history of its own and will always find buyers, of course.

A half ounce of 0.9999 gold signifies this is the Double Sovereign variant (500 mintage  $1449). Ironically, the Perth Mint won’t sell one to a UK resident.

2019 KANGAROO HIGH RELIEF

We were quite enamoured with Aleysha Howarth’s 2019 Kangaroo design. Fitting a coin surface very well, it will look better than ever on the gold and silver 1oz high relief variants. We’ve always considered this format to be the best looking of the many variants of their bullion coins that the Perth Mint puts out, and that’s unlikely to change here.

The thicker blank means diameters are restricted, which is a shame, but in all other regards we think the 1oz silver version is the one to get. Packaged in the clear-lidded black box we really like, this $109.000 AUD coin has a 10,000 maximum mintage, although just 9,000 of those will be offered in this packaging. Those lucky enough to afford the gold coin will get a pretty issue for sure. Packaged in a traditional wooden box, the 500 on offer will sell for a not insubstantial $3,099 AUD each.

2019 DIWALI

The Hindu Festival of Lights, Diwali (or Deepavali), is celebrated every year in dozens of countries around the world from India, Malayasia and Singapore, to Suriname, Sri Lanka and Mauritius. Spiritually signifying the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance, and hope over despair, the festivities extend over five days. The primary festival night coincides with the darkest, new moon night of the Hindu Lunisolar month Kartika in Bikram Sambat calendar. That generally falls between mid-October and mid-November.

In 2017, the mint issued a coin for Tuvalu to celebrate the festival and it depicted the goddess Lakshmi you can see on the left of this new one.  Here, the god Ganesha joins her. Unlike the earlier offering, the 2019 silver ‘coin’ is an undenominated medallion. It does get an attractive Rangoli patterned obverse instead of the Queen’s mugshot, so many may prefer it for that reason.

Presented in one of the latex-skinned ‘floating frames’  even though it still weighs in at a full ounce in weight, it empties the wallet of just $69.00 AUD. There’s no cap on the mintage.