The fourth Faces of the Empire coin, which takes the mask/helmet concept the mint has used elsewhere, but in a more affordable format. The visual style is almost a mid-point between the cartoonish look of Chibi, and a realistic one, almost as if it’s based on the various animated Star Wars series. An ounce in weight with a relatively large mintage of 10k, these are neatly presented.

We’ve already seen the first of the New Zealand Post’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ bullion coins, that one starring Frodo and the Ring, and here we have the next two. There’s one for Gandalf, and one for Boromir. They look decent, although the big attraction here is the rare nature of a bullion coin actually issued for New Zealand. We cover New Zealand Mint product here a lot, but it’s important to note that they’re a private mint who almost exclusively issues coins for Niue, not New Zealand itself.

Anyway, both have a small mintage of 10,000 given the popularity of Lord of the Rings, so expect these to be popular.

Two new Harry Potter Hogwarts Crests coins have launched, bringing the total to five, and likely wrapping up the series. An ounce in weight and in a shaped format, this one carries the shield emblem of Slytherin and as you’d expect from this producer, is very well presented.

The second Hogwarts Crest is Hufflepuff (what was she on when she thought these names up?), and is functionally identical except for the coloured shield emblem, and the detailing above and below it. If you like one, you’ll likely want the other.

The Chibi behemoth continues (now up to 59 issues in less than 18 months !) and it’s of little surprise that Star Trek has now joined the runaway juggernaut. Captain James Tiberius Kirk is the sensible debut coin, but expect to see a load of these coming out, given the age and depth of the franchise. Indeed, this one is subtitled ‘The Original Series’, and with Star Trek having a bit of a renaissance at present, expect this one to balloon outwards in short order. Just don’t put it in the box with the Sulu coin should it arrive, or there’ll be fisticuffs…

The second Chibi in this pairing (the mint issues two coins, twice a month), is another of those Disney Princess coins. Yes, you guessed right, I hate it, but the kids will no doubt want it.