CIT  have long had a presence in the lucky coin genre, its annual four-leaf clover adorned ‘Ounce of Luck’ remaining popular. This year, they’ve decided to mix things up a bit with new effort leveraging the abilities of the enhanced Samrtminting to enable very high relief. A Ladybird (or Ladybug in some place in the world), is said to have been a symbol of luck for a millennia, as well as a friend to agriculture with its pest-eating ways.

The coin retains the affordable nature of ‘Ounce of Luck’ by keeping the 1oz format. There’s an extraordinary amount of sharply defined high-relief for so little metal, partly explained by the reduced diameter of 33 mm, but no less impressive. We’ve come quite a way in the last few years with regards to the colouring of high-relief, which in early times could be less than stellar. Here, there’s a very rich looking metallic finish, that pays a fine homage to the striking real-world insect.

This one comes in a latex frame, and has the neat shield emblem of the Republic of Palau on its obverse. The proof finish coin has its mintage capped at 2,021 pieces. A nice detour from the usual clover, and a coin we think may have big appeal to the younger collector.