WORLD'S WILDLIFE (2019) by Emporium Hamburg There's certainly been an uptick in the number of wildlife-themed bullion series issued for African nations over the last decade. Everything from prehistoric life to all the ecosystems of the world today. Emporium Hamburg have been at the forefront of that with their hugely popular Somali Elephant (African Ounce) bullion range that's well into double figure releases now, and more recent offerings like Prehistoric Life, itself getting a second series. In 2019, they added World's Wildlife to the mix, a series issued for the Democratic Republic of Congo. The aim [...]

TOKELAU SEALIFE (2014-) by APMEX/Highland Mint A twelve-coin bullion series that issues a single design every year, Tokelau Sealife debuted in 2014 to a mixed reception. Buyers seemed to like the design, but there were soon comments regarding the quality of the prooflike coin circulating around the forums. This resulted in a change to a satin finish, seen as a way of minimising the look of flaws. Fortunately, the series quality picked up rapidly, keeping the satin finish until 2020. Fortunately, the series, which looks at sealife around the Oceanic island nation Tokelau, has [...]

BRITISH MYTHS & LEGENDS (2021-) by The Royal Mint Displaying an obvious talent for putting 'Britishness' on a coin, The Royal Mint has a quite extensive range of bullion offerings in production, quite the change after decades of just Britannia and Sovereign. Heraldry, history, and iconography make up the bulk of them, but the stories of Britain's past are also a fertile breeding ground for ideas. Launching in 2021, Myths & Legends will eventually tell four stories from the nation's extensive literary past. It will do so over twelve coins, with each story getting a trio [...]

BLACK FLAG (2019-) by the Perth Mint Who doesn't love a pirate coin? We've seen quite a few in the bullion world, most notably the New Zealand Mint's 'Pirates of the Caribbean' series, based on the Disney film franchise, and 'Pirate Queens' from the Royal Australian Mint. Both of those are now defunct, so it falls to the Perth Mint's 'Black Flag' to keep the skull and crossbones flying. Launched in 2019, it debuted with one-ounce silver and gold variants, as well as a five-ounce silver coin, all with a brilliant uncirculated finish. In 2022, they added [...]

LIMITED BULLION COIN SERIES by the Royal Australian Mint It wasn't that long ago that the Royal Australian Mint was nowhere near being the first mint you thought of in the bullion world, but the proliferation of low mintage designs over the last decade has tempted them to jump in. As a result, the last few years have seen a big uptick in activity, and it shows little sign of slowing down soon. What we've produced here is a summarised round-up of the various series that the RAM has put out in recent years, much [...]

GERMANIA WORLD BULLION COIN RANGES by Germania Mint While we have full bullion profiles of both Germania, and Allegories, the whole numismatic world that Germania Mint is building is quite a bit wider than that. There are a few currently smaller ranges that are even more interesting, bringing the current total up to five. This summary of them is not meant to be an exhaustive look at them, but rather a collation that you may find useful as a collector. We've always admired what the Germania Mint has built here. These aren't coins per se, [...]

ICONS OF INSPIRATION (2021-) by APMEX While it's true that the majority of bullion coins are themed around national emblems, nature, or popular culture, there remains plenty of room for more unique offerings in a market that has grown in variety over the last decade. One of our favourites is 'Icons of Inspiration', a look at some of the great minds that have influenced human advancement in the past. Launched by APMEX in 2021, each release in the series chooses an individual (or pair in the case of the Wright brothers) and depicts them, usually [...]

EASTERN CARIBBEAN 8 (2018-) by Scottsdale Mint Scottsdale has 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 these small island nations share a currency and a central [...]

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 [...]

LIMITED NON-CORE BULLION COIN SERIES by the Perth Mint I think few would disagree with the observation that the last few years has seen a virtual explosion in new bullion coin releases. Whereas we used to have a base of big guns, like the American Eagle and the Maple Leaf, and a scattering of smaller mintage coins (Somali Elephant, Rwandan African Ounce, etc), we now have a huge selection of low mintage issues, often with attractive, annually changing designs. It's arguably the Perth Mint that laid the groundwork, with its combination of highish mintage, [...]