Liopleurodon first gained fame with its depiction in the smash-hit BBC documentary series, Walking With Dinosaurs. Here, it was a supergiant marine reptile, casually hunting plesiosaurs like they were light snacks. Brought to life via a flawed analysis of the fossil evidence, the truth is, it was far smaller than the 25 m long, 100+ tonne behemoth they’d created. However, smaller, doesn’t equate to small, and it was still a hugely impressive apex predator, possibly attaining 10 metres in length, and exceeding 3 tonnes in weight. In other words, a great subject for Emporium Hamburg’s excellent Prehistoric Life bullion series.

Launching in 2020, this is a 12-coin, four-year program, with each design available in 1 oz silver, and 0.5 gram minigold, with the former also produced in a rarer, coloured form. We like this design, far more than the earlier Plesiosaurus one, it’s less formal and more dynamic. The colour one looks great if you prefer to go the semi-numismatic route, and the minigold appears to hold a significant amount of detail for its 11 mm diameter. These are obviously renders, but we’re pleased to say that previous issues look far better in hand.

These are available to buy now, and the final 2022, issue (there are still three to come in 2023), the Parasaurolophus, is just beginning to trickle out, and we’ll cover it next week in an overdue bullion coin round-up. The silver has a mintage of 10,000 pieces in bullion form, and 2,000 pieces in coloured form, while the minigold tops out at the same 2,000 pieces.

 If you like coins of this subject, check out our profile of this series, and keep your eyes open for our also overdue Superguide to prehistoric coins.

LINK: PREHISTORIC LIFE BULLION COIN PROFILE