BRITISH MONARCHS (2022-2024) by The Royal Mint This is one of those releases we always look forward to. The Royal Mint has produced this multi-year programme of coins tapping into Britain’s rich history, in the same vein as recent numismatic hits like the Queen’s Beasts, the Tudor Beasts, and the Great Engravers series. They almost always exhibit sky-high standards of design and execution, and this five-year, 21-coin series, looks to be no exception.Called the ‘British Monarchs Collection’, it will span the Royal Houses of Tudor, Stuart, Hanover, and finally the current mob, Saxe-Coburg, Gotha & Windsor. The [...]

ARCHAEOLOGY & SYMBOLISM (2018-) by Numiscollect Numiscollect have proven themselves not only able to choose a good subject for their collectible coin issues, but also an ability to conceptualise them and bring a fantastic quality finished article to market. We don't need to tell you how popular the ancient world is with coin producers at present, but that doesn't mean that everything has to be a variation on the same theme. Archaeology and Symbolism is a fresh look at some of the core beliefs and iconography of some of the world's great historical empires and religions. [...]

MARVEL COMICS: A guide to the Marvel World on coins With the popular culture world driving new collectors into our hobby, it's fair to say the volume of new issues has grown exponentially since the first of the modern wave dropped in 2013. The superhero genre was always going to be part of that, especially since the explosive growth of the two major cinematic universes The biggest of them, indeed the biggest movie franchise of all time, is based around Marvel Comics, and their presence is well and truly pervasive, with several producers around [...]

THE MODERN MUSICAL WORLD: A multi-mint round-up of silver and gold coins Despite the prevalence of music in the modern world, there really hadn't been much interest in the numismatic world up until just a few short years ago. Ironically, it was headbangers AC/DC that sparked the modern renaissance, with both the Royal Australian Mint (the band hails from there), and CIT issuing coins for their anniversary in 2018. With licencing being as complex as it is, CIT soon moved onto Iron Maiden, leaving the RAM as the sole AC/DC producer, but it wasn't long [...]

FAMOUS HISTORICAL BUSTS (2022) by Precious Metal Collectors   TABLE OF CONTENTS We were extremely impressed when Precious Metal Collectors, most widely known for their silver over copper 'Bi-Metal Max' issues, debuted a new two-ounce silver coin in the shape of Abraham Lincoln. Eschewing any trickery, this was a solid silver coin, issued for the Republic of Chad, that was simply antique-finished. The star of the show was the incredible job that had been done, bringing a two-dimensional representation of a person into a three-dimensional piece of silver. We suspect the coin was released [...]

ALLEGORIES (2019-) by Germania Mint What better way to expand the notion of Germania as the personification of a historic people than to have her stand alongside other, more well-known examples. Allegories seeks to pair her with the elegant women that symbolise other nations around the world, and there are plenty of them to choose from. The choice of the very well known Britannia to launch the series was a master-stroke, and it's opened up the series to figures that many may be more unfamiliar with. To date, we've seen Britannia, Columbia, Italia, Austria, and [...]

EASTERN CARIBBEAN 8 (2018-2022) by Scottsdale Mint Scottsdale have been issuing some great limited run bullion coins over the last few years, such as the Cayman Islands Marlin and Hokusai, The Great Wave and they've now embarked on an eight coin program for release in a single year that will see issues for eight different countries. The eight island nations included in the programme are Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent & the Grenadines. All of the these small island nations share a currency and [...]

GERMANIA (2019-) by Germania Mint National personifications in female form have a long history with the numismatic world. Marianne in France, Liberty in the USA, Helvetia in Switzerland, Hibernia in Scotland and, of course, the ancient Britannia in the UK, have all come to encapsulate the popular image of a country by using the striking imagery of a woman in classic pose. Now it’s the turn of ancient era Germania to have its past encapsulated by a lady in a dress. Germania has a long history in various forms, the female personification gaining much popularity in [...]

2020+ CHIBI COLLECTION by the New Zealand Mint A phenomenon that has travelled far from its Japanese homeland, Chibi (ちび or チビ) is slang for 'short' and is applied to various pop culture genres today. Chief amongst those are the small, chubby caricatures with their tiny bodies and over-sized heads – also called super-deformed (SD). A popular style in anime and manga, and also with the Funko figures that are seemingly everywhere these days, we’re actually surprised the concept has taken this long to hit the numismatic world. If anyone was going to do it, [...]

MOMENTS OF LOVE (2019) by Mint XXI It isn't often we see a subject like sex featured in its own coin series. Hinted at perhaps, but not front and centre (no pun intended...). If you're going to do it respectfully, then showcase the classic text on the subject, the Indian work, Kama Sutra. This is an ancient text, tracing its roots back well over 2,000 years, and sets out the ways to garner maximum pleasure from the act of procreation.Mint XXI is no stranger to nudity on its coins, offering some superb examples of ancient [...]