Last Friday saw the 25th anniversary of the Al Qaeda attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York. The mainland United States hadn’t experienced this level of casualties in a single event, almost 3,000 people, since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and the fact it was a terrorist attack shook the nation to its core. The repercussions from the resulting response are still being felt today, and 9/11 remains ingrained in the American psyche. As they always do, the US rebuilt, and remains unbowed, but events as extreme and unexpected as this are not forgotten.

Obviously the numismatic world was going to offer its own remembrance, and one of the finest comes from Tower Mint, a London-based mint founded by Raphael Maklouf, well known in the coin world for his 1980s effigy of Queen Elizabeth II. Issued for Gibraltar, this new two-ounce silver coin is a fine tribute to the First Responders, who saved so many lives on the day, and in many cases, gave up their own in the efforts.

A firefighters helmet, gilded and antiqued, is the focus here, with a remembrance on the badge, and the number ‘343’, representing the number of responders that died, inscribed on its left. It’s surrounded by imagery from the day, with the original towers and NY skyline reflected in the visor, and a scene of the devastation, including the infamous ‘spire of girders’, in the background. A flag, and some inspiring inscriptions lay in the foreground rubble. An impressive, sympathetic work. The obverse features the pre-event NY skyline with the ‘NEVER FORGET’ inscription.

Along with this silver coin, there are gold variants, although we don’t have full information. There are five-ounce, and one-kilo gold versions, with only one of the latter being struck. There are others, and we’ll try to clarify, but they aren’t for sale on the mints estore. The coin come boxed with a COA, and can be pre-ordered now for delivery from mid-October.