Ooooooh Bahnahnah!! The Minions wish you a numismatic seasonal greeting from the beach in Niue

REVERSEPACKAGING

There are usually quite a few Christmas coins hitting stores around this time and many producers, especially national mints from around the world, will release a coin to celebrate. This year has seen some interesting issues that tie in with the increase in popular culture licencing. The NZ Mint debuted its Disney pair, the one-ounce variant of which is particularly nice, along with a quite strange Darth Vader foil, but this latest holiday coin is a quite light-hearted affair.

Who doesn’t love the Minions? These little yellow critters have become one of the hottest properties in animation since they debuted in the 2010 hit movie, Despicable Me. Appearing in both sequels to that movie, along with one of their own (with a second film coming), they appear to be almost everywhere. In light of that, we guess a coin was inevitable.

A one-ounce silver coin struck to a proof finish, it isn’t going to push any boundaries as far as the specification is concerned, but it’s a very popular format so likely to appeal to the wider market. The reverse face depicts a group of Minions celebrating by stacking themselves up like a Christmas tree, complete with a star on top. We’d imagine that kids of all ages will love it. The obverse is the usual Niue version that incorporates the effigy of QEII. It comes packaged in a cardboard gatefold sleeve that can be gifted just like a card. The mintage is capped at 5,000 pieces and it’s available now. Quite a few of our sponsors have them.

SPECIFICATION
DENOMINATION $2 New Zealand (Niue)
COMPOSITION 0.999 silver 31 grams
DIMENSIONS 40.0 mm
FINISH Proof with colour
MINTAGE 5,000
BOX / COA Yes / Yes