Numiscollect @ WMF: A numismatic expedition around the worlds ecosystems continues in the rainforests

Another of our favourite higher-end coin producers, Dutch producer Numiscollect have long presented us with some of the best coins of the last decade. Indeed, their various mythology series stand toe-to-toe with the Mint of Poland designs for best in genre honours. There are some neat designs in their World Money Fair 21 release run, and we’re going to start with the second of their ‘Our Earth Ecosystems’ series.

The first issue was a colourful look at the Polar environments, and did so with a mix of flora and fauna, displayed as a collage building a picture of an environment, and with some elements highlighted with colour. The signature design element was a coloured edge. All of that returns for the second coin, but as we’ve headed from the barren polar environment to the lush rainforest one, the chosen highlight colour has moved from blue to green.

Coins that try to pack in multiple natural subjects to form a coherent habitat often fail – it’s harder than it looks, but this one does so with much integrity and aesthetic appeal. The scale looks spot on, the perspective works, and the animals all look realistic, whether coloured or not. The ‘sidebar’with its rich coloured Earth in it, is a nice counterbalance, switching from colour highlighting, to uncoloured highlighting with good effect.

One of Numiscollect’s less known series, I’d quite happily put this up with the best in the nature coin genre. At two-ounces in weight, they’re one of their more affordable ranges, and the mintage is nice and tight at 499 pieces. Available to pre-order now.

MINTS DESCRIPTION

A rainforest is a forested ecosystem with a lot of rain all year round. The minimum is 1700 to 2500 millimeters of rain with an absolute minimum per month. If the rain is distributed unevenly throughout the year, there may be a monsoon forest. Rainforests are also characterized by the high biodiversity and many animals that live here. The Amazon rainforest is the most famous and most extensive in the world. It is about the same size as Australia and spread over Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, Ecuador, Peru and French Guiana.

The reverse of the coin depicts the rainforest with the many animals that live there. Gorilla’s from the African rainforest and the Tucan and Jaguar from the Amazon and others. The Amazon rainforest is centered on the globe and the inscriptions: “OUR WONDERFUL AND UNIQUE WORLD” (the name of the series) and “THE RAINFOREST ECO SYSTEM” (the name of the coin). This coin is unique because of its green-colored edge.

The obverse side of the coin depicts the standard Coat of Arms of the Republic of Palau with the inscriptions: “REPUBLIC OF PALAU” (the issuing country) and “10$” (the face value).