Numiartis and Precious Metal Collectors add to their puzzle coin ranges with new designs for art and science

The puzzle coin genre is quite new, kicked off at about the same time by both Powercoin and Numiartis, and since also taken up by Precious Metal Collectors. Powercoin finished up their series, although recently revisited it with a five-ounce special, but now the other two have just announced new additions to their own ranges.

Numiartis have concentrated on famous works of art for inspiration, having already tapped into the works of Gustav Klimt, John Maler Collier, and Claude Monet. This time, it’s the super-iconic ‘The Scream’ by Edvard Munch. No stranger to the coin world, most recently by Mint XXI and Numiscollect, this is the first time it’s appeared in puzzle-style form.

PMC have added another to their celestial body range, following the Moon and the Earth with the hot topic of the moment, Mars. This one takes a different approach to Numiartis, in having a skin of silver over a much larger core of copper – a process that PMC uses extensively, and calls ‘Bi-Metal Max’. It works well, allowing the use of high-relief, even with a small amount of precious metal, although that isn’t really required here.

Both coins should be available to order now, and both are presented boxed with a Certificate of Authenticity

The Scream is the popular name given to multiple versions of a composition by Norwegian Expressionist artist Edvard Munch between 1893 and 1910. The German title Munch gave these works is Der Schrei der Natur (The Scream of Nature). The works show a figure with an agonized expression against a landscape with a tumultuous orange sky. Arthur Lubow has described The Scream as “an icon of modern art, a Mona Lisa for our time.”

The coin is large for two ounces of silver, at 65 mm in diameter, and has a clean reverse face, the only inscriptions residing in the incomplete part of the puzzle. Unusually, the missing coloured section is found on the otherwise antiqued obverse, and the mirrored image of the artwork is a neat touch. All told, another fine entrant into the series. It comes boxed with a Certificate of Authenticity, and the mintage is set at 340 pieces. It should be available shortly from the distributor, Intercoins Berlin, and other stockists,

A Bi-Metal Max coin at the smaller end of that process, Mars Puzzle, employs a single ounce of silver over 4.5 ounces of copper. As a result, it’s a chunky beast, and yet still reaches out to 60 mm in diameter. Like the Numiartis coin, there appears to be a good level of detail, although high-relief isn’t needed here, so is absent.

PMC has chosen a great image of the Red Planet, and has gone for that multi-level reverse face style that Powercoin used, rather than spreading it out on both faces as ‘The Scream’ does. Both work equally well, so it hardly matters. It has the common obverse that has typified the series to date. A nice coin, and our favourite of the series to date.