Never mind ninja turtles, PMC goes full on hardcore with its latest Auspicious Beast coin, Black Tortoise of the North

Our first look at Precious Metal Collector’s latest copper-cored selection is the third in the ‘Four Auspicious Beasts’ series. Following ‘Azure Dragon of the East‘ and ‘White Tiger of the West’, this third issue features the Black Tortoise of the North. Now, we’re the first to admit a tortoise doesn’t sound like much of a guardian, but the Asian cultures like to pep things up a bit, and that’s certainly the case here.

Heavily armoured, a mouth packed with sharp teeth, and with an equally outlandish snake coiled around its body, this is no ‘hero in a half-shell’, but a full on force of nature. Fortunately, PMC and the Spectres have done an impressive job at rendering this fantasy reptile and the coin reverse face is backed to the rim with tons of layered detail, a classic Asian aesthetic, and a great antique and gilding finish combo.

We’re not going to go into detail every time we cover one of the copper-cored coins, but it’s basically 2 oz of silver over an 11.5 ounce copper centre. This allows a low price for the 80 mm diameter size of the coin, with no compromises on high-relief, or looks. Check out our numerous other articles for more information.

One of PMC’s ‘Order of the Spectres’ issues, these are universally well produced, beautifully presented and visually striking coins – quite literally some of our favourite issues of the last couple of years. Limited to 500 pieces, it should be available to pre-order now.

FOUR GUARDIANS

The Four Symbols, or Four Guardians, are a quartet of mythological creatures in the East Asian constellations. They are the Azure Dragon of the East, the Vermilion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West, and the Black Turtle of the North. Each one of them represents a direction and a season, and each has its own individual characteristics and origins. Symbolically and as part of spiritual and religious belief, they have been culturally important across China and East Asia, particularly Korea.

In 1987, a tomb was found at Xishuipo in Puyang, Henan. There were some clam shells and bones forming the images of the Azure Dragon, the White Tiger, and the Big Dipper. It is believed that the tomb belongs to the Neolithic Age, dating to about 6,000 years ago. The Rongcheng Shi manuscript recovered in 1994 gives five directions rather than four and places the animals quite differently: Yu the Great gave banners to his people marking the north with a bird, the south with a snake, the east with the sun, the west with the moon, and the center with a bear.

The colours of the animals also match the colours of soil in the corresponding areas of China: the bluish-grey water-logged soils of the east, the reddish iron-rich soils of the south, the whitish saline soils of the western deserts, the black organic-rich soils of the north and the yellow soils from the central loess plateau.

These mythological creatures have also been synthesized into the five principles system. The Azure Dragon of the East represents Wood, the Vermilion Bird of the South represents Fire, the White Tiger of the West represents Metal, and the Black Turtle (or Dark Warrior) of the North represents Water. In this system, the fifth principle Earth is represented by the Yellow Dragon of the Center.

The four beasts each represent a season. The Azure Dragon of the East represents Spring, the Vermilion Bird of the South represents Summer, the White Tiger of the West represents Autumn, and the Black Turtle of the North represents Winter. (Source: Wikipedia)

MINTS DESCRIPTION

One of the Four Auspicious Beasts, representing Winter and the cardinal direction of the North is the Black Tortoise. Also known as Xuán Wǔ (玄武) in Chinese, Black Turtle or Black Tortoise of the North, it is usually depicted as a snake coiled around the body of a tortoise. It is the belief of ancient Chinese that the tortoise and snake are spiritual creatures that symbolize longevity – the tortoise being representative of resilience and tenacity, and the snake illustrating vitality and intelligence.

In this piece, the Black Tortoise stands strong with dominance amidst choppy waters and strong waves to claim its association with the element of Water. The tortoise shell and skin of the snake surfaces beautifully on the surface with ornate detail, brought to life on a super ultra-high relief. Both their jaws are open with teeth bared as a show of the Black Tortoise’s powers. A layer of gold is carefully gilded onto the Black Tortoise’s Chinese name and the title of the series to match its prowess and stature as one of the four Auspicious Beasts. An ancient Chinese constellation map sits on its obverse surrounding an octagon shape inspired by the yin-yang elements that houses the legal tender, the Coat of Arms du Tchad.

Through the use of a new minting technique called “Bi-Metal Reverse”, this piece achieves a remarkable weight and 80 mm diameter size – making it double the size of a regular 2 oz collectible. By combining 2 oz of silver as a base with a top layer of 11.5 oz of copper, the result is a super ultra-high relief that brings out every detail to maximum effect, then finished with antiqued silver to conclude.