Last year, World Coin Appreciation debuted the first in its new series with the title, ‘Mysteries of the World Latitude 30 North’. It’s unusually specific, and clever, showcasing some of the great ancient cultures that have existed along, or near, the 30th Parallel North. There are quite a few, and the first issue was a very striking mask from China’s Shu culture, discovered around Sanxingdui , and dating back 3,000 years. We loved it for its design, one perfectly aligned with the original artifacts, and for the choice of subject, completely unheard of in modern numismatics.

The 2022 coin is of a similar ilk, struck using two ounces of fine silver, antique finished, and with some gilding. It also depicts a mask, and given 2022 is the centennial anniversary of Howard Carter’s opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun, the boy king’s mask was a natural choice. Now, this isn’t the first coin that’s taken this approach, with some big guns like MDM and Numiscollect already having coins out, but even so, this one holds up very well indeed, and the hieroglyphic-like scenes along the bottom are a particularly nice touch.

The obverse is also well done, with a cropped section of the 30th Parallel map on it, carrying small icons for the Egyptian pyramids, and what we think is one of the Mesopotamian civilisation (a later subject, perhaps). The coin looks well presented in a windowed box. The coin is 37 x 60 mm in size, and has a mintage of only 333 pieces. We have a video of it up on our channel, so be sure to check that out.