Hunters of the Sky shaped silver coin series debuts with North American royalty – the Bald Eagle

Only the most blinkered coin collector would disagree that the iconic American symbol and magnificent bird, the Bald Eagle, is well represented in the modern coin world. Even ignoring its use on the ubiquitous American Eagle bullion coins, there’s plenty of choice if this is your bird of choice, so what do you do to make things fresh and different? MTB-PAMP have an interesting answer to that question. Shaped.

This respected producer recently launched a sell-out Great White Shark shaped coin, the first in a series called Hunters of the Deep, hopefully soon to be joined by a Hammerhead Shark design, so Hunters of the Sky is an obvious addition. The shark coin was neat, but by its very nature, the fish is a low-detail animal. The Bald Eagle is anything but, and MTB-PAMP have taken the opportunity to ramp up detail levels to enhance the look of this quite magnificent animal.

Choosing, sensibly, to depict the eagle in full flight, it’s allowed them to show feather detail across the whole are of the reverse face. The obverse is clean by contrast, and carries inscriptions detailing the issuer and composition, along with the coins serial number. The mintage is capped at 2,500 pieces. This isn’t a fully dimensional coin, of course, and a benefit of that is a far more competitive price, with these expected to come in at just $99.95 at most dealers. That $100 barrier is a significant one.

Packaging is excellent. The coin is neatly encapsulated and comes in a slip-cased tray with attractive theming. A great idea for a coin series and we shouldn’t have to wait too long for a second issue. Next to come is a good-looking Red-tailed Hawk, and Q1/2020 should see a Great Horned Owl join the mix. Available any time now, this should have plenty of appeal to the Americana crowd in particular, given the birds iconic status there.

THE BALD EAGLE

The bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus, from Greek hali “sea”, aiētos “eagle”, leuco “white”, cephalos “head”) is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla). Its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous United States, and northern Mexico. It is found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting.

The bald eagle is an opportunistic feeder which subsists mainly on fish, which it swoops down and snatches from the water with its talons. It builds the largest nest of any North American bird and the largest tree nests ever recorded for any animal species, up to 4 m (13 ft) deep, 2.5 m (8.2 ft) wide, and 1 metric ton (1.1 short tons) in weight. Sexual maturity is attained at the age of four to five years.

Bald eagles are not actually bald; the name derives from an older meaning of “white headed”. The adult is mainly brown with a white head and tail. The sexes are identical in plumage, but females are about 25 percent larger than males. The beak is large and hooked. The plumage of the immature is brown.

The bald eagle is both the national bird and national animal of the United States of America. The bald eagle appears on its Seal. In the late 20th century it was on the brink of extirpation in the continental United States. Populations recovered and the species was removed from the U.S. federal government’s list of endangered species on July 12, 1995 and transferred to the list of threatened species. It was removed from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife in the Lower 48 States on June 28, 2007. (Source: Wikipedia)