One of the early coins to feature the gods of the old Viking mythology was the debut pair in a new series entitle Norse Gods. Struck in two ounces of antiqued fine silver, the nine-coin set wrapped up in under a year and seemed to be well liked. The Royal Canadian Mint even sold the set as a subscription series to great success, apparently selling over 400 sets of the 999 available. They were reasonably high-relief, had a unique and attractive art style, and were cheaper than most of the competition, if not as ambitious.

Each of the coins, which you can explore in our profile of the series, depicted one of the major gods in Norse mythology, but as you’d expect, a nine-coin series is out of the reach of many collectors, so with this in mind, MDM is to launch a solitary five-ounce coin carrying an amalgamation of the artwork on the nine individual coins. In all the major aspects, the new coin is identical in design and implmentation to the smaller set, but at 2½ times the weight, it benefits from a healthy 65.0 mm diameter. Of course it has to fit a lot more on, but it’s a considerably more successful result than you’d expect when someone states they’re merging nine pieces of art into one. The obverse is a typical Queens head design used commonly with Cook Islands issues.

A fine piece in our view, and for those how weren’t able to buy the set, a worthy alternative. With nice packaging and a tight 500 mintage, this one will likely be a very popular numismatic in its own right. Not a Legends of Asgard level piece, but a solid, attractive coin in its own right, and warmly welcomed. It isn’t up anywhere that we can see at present, but would imagine the same sellers as had the set will also have this, especially MDM who commissioned the piece.