Numiversum Herpeton, Le Grand Mint’s bold merging of reptiles and the dimensions of reality, is back with a chameleon coin

Producers of some particularly striking designs, and with a distinctive style almost unique to their coins, Le Grand Mint have a range that eschews overused trends, and choosing to follow their own path. We admire them for that, and also for their success in doing so, coming out with issue after issue utilising the skills of noted coin designers, like Miroslav Hric, and Carmen Testa, amongst others.

The Numiversum Herpeton series, of which this latest issue is the third, is a clever merging of the concept of transition, and of nature, using, as you probably guessed from the series title, reptiles. The first issue featured a gecko, and the second, a snake. Here, we have a chameleon, that amazing colour-changing reptiles, passing from the vortex and right into a dragonfly snack. The obverse has the back end of the animal, complete with its curled tail. The placement of the legs and feet is particularly well done, enhancing the idea it’s walking on something, rather than just floating through.

There are two finishes in the range, with either a clean proof finish, or one using a combination of dark ruthenium plating and a gilded animal (on both sides). We also get a choice of sizes, with the coin coming in one-ounce, or two-ounce variants, the bigger one choosing to utilise that extra metal in ultra-high-relief, rather than just a bigger diameter. Both come boxed with a COA, and have low mintages.

A terrific looking coin, in my view, with the designer having an excellent grasp of the creature’s anatomy, and the whole concept really focusing our attention on that. The sympathetic placement of the issue inscriptions keeps it looking clean and uncluttered, and I’d imagine the ruthenium/gilded 2oz coin is an especially striking piece, but with only 111 being struck, one for the lucky few.