Its amazing that even in a world so packed with people, there are still a myriad of life forms that come to light every year. This beautifully wee beastie is a Peacock Spider. Just 4-5 mm in body length and covered with a striking display of vibrant, iridescent colour, they dance for their mate. In true spider fashion, if the dance isn’t good enough, he’s lunch.

We don’t see as many Helvetic Mint releases as we used to, which is a shame, but this new issue is a good reminder that they know what they’re doing. An aesthetically pleasing view of a terrific subject is always a good combination for a cool coin, and despite the relatively poor nature of the official image,  we reckon this will look great in hand. The lack of intrusive inscription on the reverse face is always popular here.

It’s only ½oz of 0.999 silver in weight, so affordable, but still manages to employ high-relief (up to a claimed 1.3mm), and reach a decent 33 mm in diameter. It has a ‘satin’ finish and they describe the colour application as ‘Vintage Print’. As I said, the official image sucks at showing that combination off to best effect (we’d love a sample to photograph), but this has a lot of potential. Only 300 are being produced. A fine release for the nature fan.

LINKS: HELVETIC MINT