Perth Mint Compass. AgAUNEWS video now up of this attractive new antiqued coin

With the Perth Mint seemingly sticking to its usual diet of bullion coin variants (proof/coloured/gilded etc) and the gift market, the desire to experiment looks to be on the wane at this collector favourite giant of commemorative coins. Having pretty much reinvented the antique gods genre of numismatics with its seminal Zeus coin and subsequent series, there hasn’t been much in the way of unusual, more high-end releases.

Last year saw a really well done Alice in Wonderland anniversary coin with a small removeable watch in the middle of it and it’s good to see them come back to a similar format with Compass, a coin dedicated to the mariners life-saving navigational aid. The same two ounces of fine silver, selective gilding and antique finish that made Alice such a hit has been applied to this coin as well.

It’s a respectable 45.50 mm in diameter and the design encircles an inset compass in the centre of the reverse face. Picked out in gold, the compass is clearly the main focus here, but the surrounding struck artwork, full of nautical themes like those you’d see on an old maritime map, isbeautifully done. Not a high-relief strike, it nevertheless is a fine piece of work by Aleysha Howarth. The obverse has a gilded centre with a nautical compass deisgn struck into it, but the border on this case is put aside to carry all the necessary inscriptions that come with being issued for Tuvalu, like the Queens effigy.

Packaged in a standard snapper case inside a well themed shipper box, a serialised certificate of authenticity is included. This one was launched a few weeks ago and has been selling well we understand, with the mint sold out. We’ve managed to borrow a coin from Minted-UK to video and you can see the results lower down. We also have a discount code to buy from them, so enter compass at checkout for 7% off, a discount that can also be used with the new Koala antiqued coin. The deal will run until the 8th.