Numiscom uses actual DNA in its new coin, in an effort to raise awareness of the plight of the Big Cats

We don’t know a huge amount about this coin at the moment, but it’s clear it’s something very unusual. It appears that embedded into the coin is a vial containing Cheetah D.N.A. At first, we thought this may simply be blood, but that would be a little too much for many collectors, no matter how mundane the method of collection. The most likely scenario is that strands of D.N.A., the molecule that constitutes the fundamental building blocks of life on Earth, are suspended in a vial of de-ionised, distilled water treated with RNase or some similar process to stop it degrading.

Some good news at last on the charity front. Each coin carries a donation to the zoo Braunschweig in Germany, and the CCF, the Cheetah Conservation Fund. We are firm believers here that all of these endangered wildlife coins should incorporate a donation to one of the many charitable bodies doing what they can to help these animals. It is absolutely impossible to overstress the importance that animals such as these have in their relevant ecosystems, and the potential damage the crash of those systems might cause. It’s not too much to ask that a couple of euros be set aside, especially when one considers that coins like these often sell for many multiples of their metal content value. Would a dollar or two hurt?

At present, we only have an artist’s picture of the coin, a photograph of the actual coin will inevitably follow when we have one. It looks pretty good, but we’ll reserve judgement until seeing an actual coin, as these renderings can vary wildly from the finished article.

It’s issued for Congo with a denomination of 2000 Francs and consists of two ounces of 0.999 silver. There is a mintage of only 999 pieces, we were told by a relieved Cheetah, and this proof coin is not available until December, apparently. We’ll try to firm up more details as we get them. It comes with a certificate, but no confirmation on a box yet.