DINOSAURS (2020-2021) by the New Zealand Mint One of several dinosaur series on the go through 2020, the New Zealand Mint's aptly named 'Dinosaurs' series leverages the mints antiqued and coloured one-ounce silver coin format to do the honours. They've used the style successfully on a few previous issues that we really liked, including the excellent 'Warriors of History; and 'Battles That Changed History' history ranges. The mint doesn't produce as many ranges like this anymore, having moved primarily into big pop-culture and media franchises. These are pretty coins exhibiting some decent, if unspectacular artwork.They [...]

2016-2022 THE SEVEN SUMMITS by CIT Coin Invest Between 2009 and 2016, CIT issued an interesting range of coins called Mountains and Flora. A simple sterling (0.925) silver coin of 20 grams in weight, with some colour highlighting, these were one of CIT's basic ranges, long since fallen by the wayside. Certainly popular enough - there were 61 issues! - their main attraction was the intriguing subject matter. In amongst the selection was a sub-set (sporting a privy mark), called The 7 Summits. The 7 Summits include the highest peak on each of the [...]

2018-2021 UNDERWATER WORLD by MDM Wholesale Making its debut early in 2018, German producer MDM Wholesale launched its first Underwater World coin. A three ounce silver coin with an antique finish, it featured a heavily dished reverse face inside a border, which was filled with a translucent blue enamel. Struck to an impressive level of ultra-high relief, each coin depicts a sea creature not only under the enamel, but also bursting through the surface of it, just as the animal would in reality. There have been four issues to date at the rate of two [...]

2015-2020 MAGNIFICENT LIFE by CIT Coin Invest Released back in 2007, alongside the superb Evolution of Life series, Magnificent Life took a wholly different approach to the one-ounce coin. Eschewing the antique finish and rose-gold gilding of its prehistoric-themed sibling, this series went with a deep strike (a concave dish on the reverse face), a proof finish and varying amounts of colouration. Smartminting was in evidence, in this case allowing highly defined levels of subtle high-relief. The key to the look of these isn't just down to the strike, but also to the high quality [...]

2019+ ANIMAL CHAMPIONS by the Czech Mint A very nice series from the Czech Mint, Animal Champions has for its subject the record breaking creatures that push the envelopes of just what is possible in the natural world. The biggest, fastest, strongest of their types are represented, and done so in a striking style. Each coin is antique-finished and is struck in an ounce of fine silver. They're quite a standard format, eschewing colour, high-relief and inserts,and as a result are relatively affordable. The first year of release was 2019 and encompassed four issues, [...]

2004-2020 TIFFANY ART by CIT Coin Invest Every now and then a coin series flares brightly on the market for a couple of years, and then fades away. Sometimes, it's three or four releases before interest disappears, but rarely, a series of coins so captures the heart of the market that it can go on for years and stay at the top of it's game. Foremost in the last group is the Tiffany Art series of architecture coins released by the Liechtenstein based coin producer, CIT Coin Invest, known to most simply as, CIT. Without [...]

2016-2020 ETERNAL SCULPTURES by Powercoin Fine art has always been a popular subject on modern coins. Reproductions of some of the world's great paintings are popular, and even pottery has attracted an interesting series or two. Sculpture, because of its fundamentally three-dimensional nature, is a little harder to depict on a small coin, but Italian dealer Powercoin, along with super-producer CIT Coin Invest, decided they could do a good job of it. They were wrong. They did a fantastic job. Eternal Sculptures debuted in 2016 and sees just a single release annually. Each coin is [...]

2019 INVENTIONS OF LEONARDO by the Czech Mint Renaissance genius Leonardo Da Vinci is no stranger to the coin world and it’s easy to see why. A huge body of incredible artwork and astounding inventions are a veritable visual feast and make splendid numismatics. To date, the vast majority of coins featuring the mans work have stayed firmly in the artistic sphere, but the Czech Mint have chosen to showcase Da Vinci’s engineering skills, especially in works that led to advances in warfighting. Designed by Asamat Baltaev, the medal maker responsible for the beautiful Jules [...]

METEORITES (2016-2019) by Numiscollect One of the more popular genres in modern numismatics over the last decade or so, meteorite adorned coins depict an astronomical body or event, and incorporate a fragment of genuine meteorite. Three producers are the main players in this market - CIT Coin Invest, the Mint of Poland, and Numiscollect. The flagship series of the latter of those three is simply called 'Meteorites', and has been running since 2016. These are impressive coins. Each is struck in three ounces of fine 0.999 silver, and while there are some differences in final [...]

DIMENSIONAL SKULLS (2017-2019) by CIT Coin Invest It was at the ANA Coin Show in 2016 that CIT launched the first of its new Skull series of coins. Utilising the full range of abilities brought to the industry, SmartMinting was a new technology developed by CIT Coin Invest and German mint, BH Mayer. The benefits were an ability to produce ultra high relief strikes incorporating both large size and high detail, from relatively small amounts of metal. Skull No.1 launched to much acclaim, and is the perfect example of just what smartminting brings to the [...]