Pobjoy Mint highlights the plight of Antarctic sea ice with a new holographic silver coin

While there are a multitude of politicians and corporate interests that dispute the reality of global climate change, any sensible person would side with the overwhelming scientific concensus that man has, and is, having an adverse effect on the planets climate. Nowhere is that more apparent than at the Earth’s poles, particularly Antarctica. Surrounding much of continental Antarctica are massive ice shelves and for some time now they’ve been showing signs of breakup and destruction.

Back in January 1995, the Larsen A ice shelf disintegrated. Located in the northwest part of the Weddell Sea extending along the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Larsen Ice Shelf is a series of shelves and are (were) named A to G. Larsen A was the smallest in the North, but in Q1 of 2002, the much larger Larsen B dramatically collapsed and broke apart. An area similar in size to Rhode Island, some 3,250 km² broke up, the ice an amazing 220 m thick in places. Having been stable for 10,000 years, it will have disappeared in just a few decades. Andrew Fleming of the British Antarctic Survey (BAT) said “The Larsen B shattered like car safety glass into thousands and thousands of pieces. It disappeared in the space of about a week.“.

Larsen C is the fourth largest ice shelf in Antarctica, with an area of about 50,000 km² and it’s next in the firing line. Last November, a rift running about 110 kilometres long, 90 m wide and 500 m deep was photographed (image below). The following month it had grown another 21 km. The collpase of this section is considered inevitable in 2017, an area larger than the US state of Delaware. At 350 m thick and 5,000 km² in area, it could be one of the largest icebergs ever seen if it doesn’t break up quickly. If all the ice that the Larsen C shelf currently holds back were to enter the sea, it is estimated that global waters would rise by 10 cm.

Pobjoy are issuing this new coin for the British Antarctic Territory and it’s struck in a standard ounce of sterling 0.925 silver. Being British, the obverse has an effigy of Queen Elizabeth II upon it, Pobjoy’s own version. The reverse is well done, style-wise a departure from the mints usual output. Similarly to MNI’s Parthenon coin, a holographic effect shows the extent of the ice shelf before the collapse of Larsen B. An attractive, if not complex design, it does get its message across very effectively and is to be commended for that. Selling for just under £50 UKP (+ taxes), the coin comes in a red snapper box with a certificate of authenticity. To mark the 2002 collapse of Larsen B, just 2,002 coins will be struck.