Continuing our look at the new releases in MDM’s Autumn release, and sticking with the unintentional theme of the week – the ancient world – we have three new releases here, all very different in style, and subject. Along with some other unusual issues in this batch, it’s good to see MDM maintain that experimental attitude to numismatics, and we’ll have a look at some more of them shortly.

There’s something for most tastes here, with a standard coin, a shaped minigold, and a huge, shaped silver Samurai helmet. These will cover quite a wide range in price, although none will be in the sub-($€£)100 range. All are well presented, even the minigold, and all should be available to order now.

The Ancient Helmets series has always been a particularly impressive one, debuting in 2021 with an antique-bronze finished Spartan helmet, before passing through Norse, and Trojan headgear, until we arrive today, at this terrific Samurai helmet. Called a Kabuto, these were used in various styles for a millennium, and still show up for ceremonial duties to this day.

The Kabuto is a striking object in any era, meant to strike fear into an opponent, and part of a wider system of armour used by these legendary warriors. The coin is fully shaped, employing generous levels of high-relief, and finished with an attractive antiquing. The extraordinary design of these helmets lend themselves very well to this kind of coin, and while LPM did a fine one in two ounces of silver a couple of years ago, you can certainly see where all the extra metal has gone in this one.

The packaging looks good, almost like a black lacquer box with a Japanese motif on top, but you’re buying this for the coin, and it looks to be an outstanding example of the type.

We’re always a big fan of minigold, and the way that bring cool design to a metal usually unaffordable to many. CIT in particular, have been great proponents of them, producing a seemingly endless variety of different designs, both traditionally round to sit alongside their flagship releases, or shaped for a specific theme.

MDM’s coin doubles the weight to a full gram, just qualifying in our own classification as a minigold, and looks to be using that extra metal to add a bit of relief to it. These are small, of course, but that doesn’t mean they lack detail, and a look at the coin indicates the subject is well-chosen. The Ancient Egyptians loved their gold, and Anubis, the canine-headed god of funerary rites, was also much loved.

Unlike most minigolds, the mintage on Anubis is quite low at 999 pieces, and it also comes nicely boxed, also not a given on these. A super entrant into what remains the most affordable way to pick up gold coins these days, if not always the best value in absolute terms.

Last of all, the Norse Gods have long been a subject of choice at MDM, going back to a fine series of two-ounce coins released through 2015 and 2016, which were highly sought after at the time. Starting in 2020, and only recently finishing, MDM reissued six of the original nine coins with gilded highlights, the main characters picked out in yellow gold.

These, likewise, seem to have been very popular. The original series was finished off with a bigger five ounce design, incorporating all nine gods into a composite depiction. The original artwork was used, often in cropped form, and it worked well. What we have here is the same thing, but rather than reproduce the 2016 original, this new one brings together the six subjects from the gilded reissues, into a new composition, but using the same individual god designs, as before.

It remains a good-looking coin, and for those that didn’t pick up the individual releases, a good way to get in on the series. It’s also the only coin in the whole series to carry a King Charles III effigy, and the rarest, topping out at just 250 pieces.