The second coin is for a planet our idiot species seems intent on destroying in the name of profit, Earth. A blue-green mineral suitable to represent our home is possible, but Mint XXI have chosen to depict our planet with its beautiful clouds, and have chosen Lapis Lazuli for the task. A rock coloured by the mineral lazurite, rather than a mineral itself, and mined in Afghanistan and Chile as the primary sources, it does a surprisingly top job at aping our planet. The symbol, a cross within a circle, is meant to represent the planet divided by four rivers, and predates heliocentric theory as proposed, correctly, in the 16th century.

Lastly in this first batch of three, we have Mars, that’s capturing much of our imagination at the moment, most comically through the antics of Elon Musk (no, he isn’t going to colonise Mars…), but also through science-fiction, and an increased interest in space brought about by missions to it. It’s called the Red Planet for a reason, and the use of Carnelian is a fine choice. This mineral is a form of chalcedony tinged with iron oxide, and has a semi-precious status. It has quite a range of looks, so it will be interesting to see how much variation there is in the various coins. The planetary symbol is meant to represent the shield and spear of Mars, the god of war.

As you can see in the gallery below, there’s a huge variance between the planets, as there should be, and they do a good job interpreting their respective worlds. Remember, each of these is unique, and shaped from a natural mineral, so no two Mars coins, for example, will be identical, adding to the attraction of them.

The packaging looks first class, and custom-made for the task. Clearly, this series is a labour of love at Mint XXI, and they have a fine history with large series like this, including Greek Mythology, and the Way to Valhalla, amongst others, so it’s in safe hands. As we said, the base coin doesn’t exhibit much variety, but this release is more about the whole thing than on any part of it, and on that score, it looks to be a huge success, one the astronomy crowd would love to have on display, as would former stonemasons/geology nuts like myself. Available now, each issue has a mintage of 500 pieces.