TAROT MAJOR ARCANA (2021-) by the New Zealand Mint For at least 600 years, a pack of cards called The Tarot, have been used to play games across parts of Europe, starting in Italy. However, starting in 18th century France, the cards captured the attention of occultists, and from there, the Tarot deck took on two distinct forms. Today, most interest in the cards is centred around their occult use in divining the future. The deck in this case is made up of 78 cards. Of those, 56 are divided up into four suits, each [...]

TEXTURED FINE ART RANGES (2017) by Powercoin Much admired on its debut, especially by us here at AgAuNEWS, Powercoin's first Great Micromosaic Passion coin did something different with the generally conservative fine-art genre. The use of a cleanly defined texture to impart a unique look has lifted the often stale procession of masterpieces coins we usually get, and to great effect. They followed the success of the series with a companion range turning artworks into jigsaw puzzles, which turned out to be equally popular. Recently, we've seen the mosaic series kick-off a second series, [...]

WORLD OF CRYPTIDS (2023) by Lithuanian Mint For centuries, the weird and mysterious has often been attributed to unexplainable creatures of the night. Regular coin collectors will know they’ve been a rich source of inspiration for some quite superb issues, in recent years, but most of them have been at the higher end. The Lithuanian Mint has debuted a new 12-coin series, apparently all to be issued through 2023, which will be more affordable. Called ‘World of Cryptids’, it will feature some of the world’s most iconic and mysterious creatures. The depictions, by artist Laimutė Varkalaitė, [...]

2015-2024 BIBLICAL STORIES by Scottsdale Mint Launched in December 2014, Biblical Series is produced by Scottsdale Mint, an American bullion company widely liked for its unusual bullion products like the Stacker and Tombstone series. Their first large venture into numismatic coins, the Biblical Series, is also one of the most ambitious in modern precious metal commemoratives. Designed to be released in sets of six annual coins, there will eventually be sixty in total, spread over a decade. While some series do reach these numbers, they're not generally mapped out in advance. Following the current [...]

PEZ COLLECTION (2019-) by MTB/PAMP Certainly one of the more inventive candy products released over the last century, PEZ has spawned an entire worldwide collector's market because of the way it is sold and used. With most other sweets, you buy it, you eat it. Simples, to quote a meerkat. Not so with PEZ. The candy is simple enough, just small blocky hard sweets sold in a packet. But then you put them in a plastic dispenser that, when you push the head, releases one for you to eat. The clever part comes with the [...]

THE ENDURING SOLDIERS by National Bank of Poland Not being afraid to produce long running coin series, the excellent Stanislaw August and History of Polish Coin series being evidence of that, the National Bank of Poland (Narodowy Bank Polski NBP) has embarked on another epic set of silver coins. With tensions higher than normal between Poland and Russia over the Ukrainian conflict, it seems that they felt it was time for a reminder of why there exists such distrust between the two countries on many levels. This series celebrates and remembers some of the brave [...]

MANDALA ART (2015-2024) by Art Mint Launched in 2015, Art Mint's Mandala Art series has continued with a single annual release ever since, growing in sophistication and ambition as time has passed. The series has taken the concept of the mandala, a geometric pattern of squares and/or triangles in a concentric pattern, and applied it to a selection of world cultures, expanding it out from the Sanskrit origins it's most closely associated with. In truth, the mandala style is an ancient one with use throughout history and with a geographically diverse distribution, from Mesoamerica to the [...]

COCA-COLA BOTTLE CAPS (2018-) by Crown Mint One of the most iconic brands in history, Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a simple carbonated soft drink invented in the late 19th century. Named after kola nuts and coca leaves, a couple of the original ingredients, Coca-Cola was bought from its inventor John Pemberton, by Asa Griggs Candler, who, through some impressive marketing, turned it into a world dominating product. In 2015, Coca-Cola was said to be the world’s third-most valuable brand, behind Apple and Google, and in 2013 their products were served up in over 200 countries [...]

BRITISH MONARCHS (2022-2026) 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 & [...]

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 [...]