One of the staples of the bullion coin market from our early days was the Rwandan African Ounce. Depicting one of the members of that continent’s amazing menagerie, that series is rapidly closing in on its 20th issue. It isn’t alone, as Numistrade also have their Rwandan Lunars, and, the focus of our attention here, the Nautical Ounce, also issued for Rwanda, and enjoying its eighth issue in 2024.

The Nautical Ounce is themed around something very specific – namely, famous sailing vessels from history. It started in 2017 with the Santa Maria, the ship employed by Christopher Columbus on his famous voyage, and this coin set an aesthetic pattern for all the future releases. There was a clean border holding the series title, the date, and the composition. At the top was a small ringfenced area, in which were depicted navigational aids, including a sextant, and a telescope, bordered with rope. The background of the main area featured lines of longitude and latitude, and a compass rose. Pride of place was a depiction of the subject ship under full sail.

For the eighth issue, we get a fine image of the British clipper ship, Cutty Sark, with the wind fully in her sails. It’s an appropriate view given this beautiful ship, still available to view in London to this day, was all about speed, representing the swansong of sail before steam power took over her duties. She was built in Scotland in 1869, for the princely sum of £16,150, and spent much of her career (1892-1922) under Portuguese ownership, before returning to the UK. Her last home port, was just a few miles from where I’m writing this, before being acquired by the Cutty Sark Preservation Society in 1953. It’s a testament to this gorgeous vessel, that even in a time of great financial hardship in Britain, she was considered worth restoring to her former glory. It’s heartbreaking that other vessels that served the freedom of the world so well, like the legendary HMS Warspite, were not similarly honoured.

The coin range was always primarily about the one-ounce silver, and one-ounce gold bullion variants, which have always been pretty coins in this market, and there’s a proof version of the silver coin for those that want a higher quality, and more limited strike. The stars of the show, however, are the pair of antique-finished high-relief variants. There’s a one-ounce with a 40 mm diameter and up to 4 mm of relief, and a particularly impressive three-ounce, rocking a healthy 60 mm diameter, and hitting 6 mm of high relief in places.

This has always been a fine range of coins, different from most others in theme, with a neat aesthetic, and well-chosen subjects. The 2024 design continues that in fine style. Grab that three-ounce HR coin for one of the best ship coins we’ve seen for quite a while. Available to order now, we’ll definitely add the Nautical Ounce, and the African Ounce wildlife series to our list of profiles to be done in 2024.