Precious Metal Collectors have added a second coin to their planetary take on puzzle coins, with the Moon. This joins the earlier ‘Earth’ puzzle coin, which we covered in April, along with a couple of the mints other space-orientated issues. This is a chunky, 60 mm diameter coin of just one-ounce weight. It’s silver, so as many of you may have guessed, this is a coin using PMC’s clever Bi-Metal Max technique, which uses that silver to envelope a much heavier core of fine copper, in this case, 4.5 ounces of it. Remarkably, this is a small Bi-Metal Max coin, with many having a core of over 33 ounces.

The style is very similar to that pioneered by Powercoin with its art-themed series, although those were solid silver, and took three times as much metal to reach a similar size. Basically, take an image, and strike it with the impression of jigsaw puzzle pieces. Usually, this is done with the puzzle partly incomplete, and with those odd pieces scattered around the unfinished area. A simple idea, but quite effective. Some of the detail is a little lost because of the monochromatic nature of the moon, but we’re being petty here.

The obverse continues the puzzle piece background, but carrying the coat-of-arms of the African state, Chad. It’s a particularly nice touch. The coin will come presented in a themed box with a Certificate of Authenticity. The mintage is set at 688 pieces, and it’s available to order now.