April, 2023
Tiger-shaped Jie silver coin set (2023 World Coin Appreciation)
Mik Woodgate2023-04-14T20:41:49+01:00April 14th, 2023|
Tiger-shaped Jie silver coin set (2023 World Coin Appreciation)
We can always rely on World Coin Appreciation, a rare Chinese producer, to offer up something a little different from the norm, and often with an Asian leaning. We were super impressed with their Sanxingdui artifact coin , which shone a light on a little known, but incredible fascinating culture in Ancient China. This one is of a similar ilk, although it also owes much to WCA’s Tiger Tally coin, which I’ve just noticed we never got around to covering.
This Tiger-shaped Jie is one of the ancient tokens, used for military, diplomatic, customs, postal and other important bureaucratic functions. “The Tiger-shaped Jie” was unearthed in the tomb of the king of Nanyue had a gold inscription of “王命命车驲（rì）”, which was the proof of executing the king’s order. It’s made of metal, and was produced somewhere between 200 BCE and 24 CE. The five characters inscribed on the side read ‘The King’s Orders to Muster the Troops’. The original currently resides in the Museum of the Western Han Dynasty Mausoleum of the Nanyue King.
This is a two-piece coin, each of a troy ounce in weight, and sharing a common, if mirrored in orientation, obverse. They’re antique-fini8shed and finished with gilded highlights, as the original artifact was. They can be placed side-by-side to make a fully dimensional tiger jie. Each piece is 55 x 38 mm in size, and comes attractively boxed with a C.O.A. The mintage is just 199 units. These are quite hard to track down, but we know Powercoin had them. Available to order now.
Coronation Day Strike Celebration Sovereign gold coin (2023 Royal Mint)
Mik Woodgate2023-04-14T17:56:26+01:00April 14th, 2023|
Coronation Day Strike Celebration Sovereign gold coin (2023 Royal Mint)
We know the Sovereign is a real collector favourite, with special variants snapped up quickly, so the news that the Royal Mint will strike a special limited run on 06 May, the day of the coronation of King Charles II, will no doubt cause a buying frenzy, especially with its crowned effigy on the obverse. Spec-wise it’s a standard Sovereign, and it will sell for £850.00
PRESS RELEASE: The Royal Mint, official maker of UK coins, has today announced it will be offering numismatists across the world an opportunity to purchase a special Strike on the Day Sovereign in celebration of His Majesty King Charles III’s coronation. The Strike on the Day Sovereign will be struck on 6th May 2023 – His Majesty’s coronation day.
The Strike on the day Sovereign will feature the first official crowned coinage portrait of His Majesty King Charles III, design by sculptor Martin Jennings. This celebration Sovereign will bear the renowned St George and the dragon design produced by Benedetto Pistrucci – a design synonymous with the Sovereign. Both sides of the Strike on the Day Sovereign will feature a fully frosted finish, adding an attractive matt finish to the iconic St George and the dragon design as well as His Majesty’s official crowned portrait. This Sovereign will also have a plain edge rather than the usual milled edge that collectors are familiar with.
Only 1,250 of the Sovereigns be struck on 6th May 2023, on the day His Majesty is officially crowned as King, offering collectors across the world a wonderful opportunity to mark this history royal occasion in British history. Each Sovereign, struck on King Charles III’s coronation day, will be housed in bespoke packaging as well as accompanied by a certificate of authentication confirming its strike date.
Rebecca Morgan, Director of Collector Services said, “As the nation celebrates His Majesty King Charles III’s coronation this year, we are delighted to be offering collectors the unique opportunity to own a special Sovereign struck on His Majesty’s coronation day, 6th May 2023. In addition to featuring the iconic and globally recognisable St George and the dragon design produced by Benedetto Pistrucci, the Sovereign’s obverse will bear the first official crowned coinage portrait of King Charles III. We anticipate this Strike on the Day Sovereign to be in high demand among coin collectors globally due to it marking such a significant moment in British history as well as the limited number available, making it extremely sought after.”
Willy Wonka silver coin (2023 New Zealand Mint)
Mik Woodgate2023-04-12T11:40:49+01:00April 12th, 2023|
Willy Wonka silver coin (2023 New Zealand Mint)
The New Zealand Mint continues its celebration of Warner Brothers Studios’s 100th anniversary, with its second five-ounce silver coin showcasing iconic movies from the film producer’s extensive catalogue. The first of them was a neat ‘Singing in the Rain’ coin, which exhibited a classic look, and the NZ Mint’s customary high-quality presentation. This second coin, despite also weighing in at five ounces, is quite different.
Rather than going for that classic movie poster look, what we have here is an iconic element from the movie – namely, the Willy Wonka chocolate bar that started the adventure off in the first place. Looking like the box, coloured to suit, it appears opened, with the silver foil and the chocolate extending out of one end.
It’s hard to argue with the choice, or the implementation of it, and with just 500 pieces being minted, it will likely find many collectors wanting to remember a really cool movie. It’s a shame they didn’t randomly insert maybe 10 gold foil certificates of authenticity, in an extra nod to the movies, but we guess the work and cost involved in that for so few coins didn’t make financial sense. Available to order from today for $499.00 USD
Stanislaw Lem: Master of Science Fiction gold coins (2023 Mint of Gdańsk)
Mik Woodgate2023-04-12T10:51:04+01:00April 12th, 2023|
Stanislaw Lem: Master of Science Fiction gold coins (2023 Mint of Gdańsk)
Along with their Robert Lewandowski, and The Witcher series, both extensive in scope, the Mint of Gdańsk recently added the seminal Polish science-fiction author, Stanislaw Lem to its portfolio. A quartet of quite superb silver coins kicked off the programme, with the promise of a pair of gold coins, and a pair of silver coin statues to come. The former are now here.
I’ll straight up say that I think the design is awesome, full of the style and optimism that sci-fi in the 50s and 60s was filled with, a little surprising given Lem was very much a realist. The design is a nod to his most famous work, Solaris, and the ocean world that forms the basis of it. The guilloche-style background in the border is a little overpowering, but not excessively so, and it works beautifully in the coin centre, so a trade-off worth making.
These are issued for Malta and the obverse has their neat coat-of-arms on it, laid over a molecular structure. There are two formats in the range, a one-ounce coin with a 150 mintage and a €50 denomination, and a tenth-ounce coin with a 1,000 unit mintage and a €10 denomination. This is actually the second gold coin, we haven’t covered the first yet (video below), but we much prefer this design. Available to order now.
World of Cryptids: Curupira silver coin (2023 Lithuanian Mint)
Mik Woodgate2023-04-04T22:56:23+01:00April 4th, 2023|
World of Cryptids: Curupira silver coin (2023 Lithuanian Mint)
The fourth of twelve coins to be released this year in the Lithuanian Mint’s ‘World of Cryptids’ series will be available to buy shortly, and features a South American creature – the Curupira. We’re huge fans of this series, with its very distinctive artistic flair. So much so, in fact, that we’ve knocked up a Coin Series Profile to the range to date, which shows the current releases, and will be updated as the new coins release on a one-per-month schedule.
We’ve had a nightmare today, with Virgin Media ISP dropping out, and we haven’t had much time to work on new stuff over the last 24 hours, so the Cryptid CSP made sense, as it could be built regardless of the downtime. Hopefully, you think it was worth it, and hopefully, Virgin get their act together.
March, 2023
Growing Up – Brown Bear silver coin (2023 Numiscollect)
Mik Woodgate2023-03-24T18:36:29+00:00March 24th, 2023|
Growing Up - Brown Bear silver coin (2023 Numiscollect)
The third coin in Numiscollect’s ‘Growing Up’ series is available now, and after the lion and the stallion, we have the impressive Brown Bear. The series features an adult animal on the reverse face, struck in smartminted high-relief, and with a black proof finish. The obverse focuses more on the young animal in its natural habitat, as well as depicting it with its parent.
There are no changes to that layout for this release, with the reverse face picturing one of the big, powerful animals walking towards the viewer, while a cub, in simplified form, stares off into the distance. The obverse shows a pair of cubs by a river, with their reflections showing in the water – a series signature design element – all set in a wider panorama. A nice looking coin, it does a good job of continuing the series. It’s boxed with a C.O.A. and available now.
While this is a two-ounce coin with a 45 mm diameter, this isn’t the only format this series uses. Along with this coin comes a five-ounce version of the previous Stallion release, again, just as they did with the Lion coin. That one is also available now. The mintage of the two-ounce coin is set at 333 pieces, while the bigger coin is capped at just 149.
Camouflage of Nature – Zebra gilded variant silver coin (2023 Powercoin)
Mik Woodgate2023-03-24T15:25:01+00:00March 24th, 2023|
Camouflage of Nature - Zebra gilded variant silver coin (2023 Powercoin)
Released last September, Powercoin’s stunning Zebra coin, the first in its ‘Camouflage of Nature’ series, was a visually striking piece of numismatic art, and one of our favourite coins released in the whole of 2022. It was a three-ounce, proof finish coin, and you can see and read all about it in our original article HERE.
As they are sometimes tempted to do, Powercoin have issued a special edition variant of the coin, and rather than just change the finish, they’ve upscaled the coin to a heftier five ounces in weight, and then gilded it. We’re usually a little sceptical when gilded variants appear later on, but we have to say, this appears to have lost nothing in the translation. Indeed, with the Zebra’s natural habitat having that golden colour in the drier seasons, you could even make the case that it looks reasonably natural. Whatever the case, we think it’s an attractive variation, albeit a pricey one. Available now, with a mintage of 499.
The Witcher: Baptism of Fire 2 oz silver coin (2023 Mint of Gdansk)
Mik Woodgate2023-03-17T15:50:53+00:00March 17th, 2023|
The Witcher: Baptism of Fire 2 oz silver coin (2023 Mint of Gdansk)
The Mint of Gdańsk continues to work its way through the hugely popular fantasy ‘The Witcher’ novels of Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski with the launch of the fifth 2 oz silver coin of the eight that will make up the set. This format isn’t the only one in the range, as there are one-kilo silver coins, and a proof gold pair, all of which carry a different design to this one. There was even a terrific silver coin statue which looks well worth seeking out. We’ve covered almost all of them.
This coin features the book ‘Baptism of Fire’, with a reverse design that the mint describes as featuring “a hermit who incited the local peasants against an underprivileged girl whom he accused of witchcraft. In defence of the girl stood the White Wolf with his company: Regis, the higher vampire, and Milva, the archer, who were placed in the centre of the coin. The hermit called them in for a trial by fire, saying that only a person with an impeccable heart could take out the red-hot horseshoe with his bare hand. To everyone’s surprise, the horseshoe was taken out of the fire by Regis. At that point, the camp was attacked by a Nilfgaard plunger and the entire company was scattered.” There’s some selective gilded highlighting, and a copper coloured insert.
We’ve always like the obverse designs of this series as well, each having its own character, rather than going for commonality. Filled with character symbology, and a dozing cat, it looks great in comparison to a usual Niue obverse. The coin has a 45 mm diameter, and a 2,000 unit mintage. It comes boxed with a Certificate of Authenticity, and is available to order now. Until the end of the month, the Mint of Gdańsk is discounting the coin, which will rise by around 13% on April 1st.
Lost Civilisations: The Phoenicians 5 oz silver coin (2023 Numiscollect)
Mik Woodgate2023-03-10T16:09:57+00:00March 10th, 2023|
Lost Civilisations: The Phoenicians 5 oz silver coin (2023 Numiscollect)
Just as they did with their excellent Babylon two-ounce coin, the first in this ‘Lost Civilisations’ series, Numiscollect are releasing a bigger five-ounce version of the second, Phoenicia and Carthage. As before, there are no changes to the design or layout of the coin, it’s simply bigger, and with a mintage of just 149 pieces, considerably rarer.
An impressive series, utilising smartminted high-relief, with some subtle coloured highlights over an antiqued finish, it depicts these two great civilisations. Carthage was founded by the Phoenicians, but went on to become a great power in its own right, almost bringing the Roman Empire to an end. These were great trading empires, utilising the Mediterranean to move goods to the many peoples that skirted it, becoming rich in the process. The growth of the Roman Empire put an end to it, as it did so many others.
The reverse face depicts a marketplace, with merchants displaying brightly coloured textiles, in front of the triumphal arch in Tyre, ironically constructed by the Romans. It still stands today. The obverse features the ships that gave them the power to dominate the Mediterranean. Two of them are seen in Carthage harbour. A very attractive piece, rich with history rather than the usual mythology. It comes boxed with a COA and is available to order now.
Fighting Spirit Kangaroo 1/2 oz silver coin (2023 Royal Australian Mint)
Mik Woodgate2023-03-07T20:06:39+00:00March 7th, 2023|
Fighting Spirit Kangaroo 1/2 oz silver coin (2023 Royal Australian Mint)
A real icon in the numismatic world, the Royal Australian Mint’s many kangaroo designs have garnered a big audience and several awards along the way. The beautiful ‘Kangaroo At Sunset’ is an object lesson is heavily stylised, but very simple design, and there have been numerous issues over the years with a similar theme. Indeed, 2023 will mark the 30th year of the core Kangaroo series, and releases like this latest one here, are proof positive the concept is nowhere near expended.
Called ‘Fighting Spirit’, it depicts a pair of these unique animals basically kicking the stuffing out of each other. These are no lightweight animals, and images of individuals fully ripped like a body-builder, are quite common. They’re very powerful, and the kick can be devastating. Watching a pair fight is quite a spectacle. Again, the Royal Australian Mint has eschewed excessive detail for that clean, elegant look, and it works perfectly, in our view. There’s a hint of musculature and claws, driving home the ability of the kangaroo, but the background is clean, except for that brilliantly iconic disc representing the sun, or perhaps the moon.
At present, there’s only a ½ oz 0.999 silver coin, struck to a proof finish, and with a diameter of 28.52 mm. As you can see below, it comes boxed with a Certificate of Authenticity, and has a mintage of 2,500 pieces. A very cool coin, we can see regular Kangaroo collectors finding little to criticise here. Available now.
100th Anniversary of the Aeronautica Militare (2023 IPZS Italian Mint)
Mik Woodgate2023-03-07T18:23:18+00:00March 7th, 2023|
100th Anniversary of the Aeronautica Militare (2023 IPZS Italian Mint)
While tracing its roots back to the 1880s with its balloon forces, the Italian Air Force, Regia Aeronautica, was created as an independent force on 28 March 1923 by King Vittorio Emanuele III. From early operations in Ethiopia, it grew to fielding over 3,000 aircraft during the Second World War. Split when Italy changed sides in 1943, it was recombined after the war as the Aeronautica Militare, which it remains named to this day. It grew from 1949, when NATO was formed, (Italy was a founding member), and it remains a sizable force, operating state-of-the-art aircraft, like the Typhoon, and the F-35.
To mark the centenary of its formation, IPZS is issuing a silver coin on 23rd March. Valerio De Seta has done a great job combining multiple elements into a cohesive design. The classic Italian Air force roundel colours are merged with the two zeros of ‘100’, which is bisected with a line symbolising the biplane at its start, to the F-35 of today. A line arcing parallel to the edge of the coin is marked with the centennial dates. It’s all quite simple, but extremely effective. We like it. The obverse face features the emblem of the air force, a shield carrying the badges of four WWI squadrons who excelled in combat, under a crowned eagle in flight. Below the shield is the service motto in Latin, “Virtute Siderum Tenus” (“With Valour To The Stars”).
The coin is struck to a proof finish in 18 grams of sterling (0.925) silver, and has a diameter of 32 mm. It comes boxed and with a Certificate of Authenticity, and has a mintage of 5,000 pieces.
LINKS: Buy from the Italian Mint
Flowers: Forget-Me-Not silver coin (2023 Numiscollect)
Mik Woodgate2023-03-06T20:13:30+00:00March 6th, 2023|
Flowers: Forget-Me-Not silver coin (2023 Numiscollect)
One of the best flora coins on the market, Numiscollect’s ‘Flowers’series takes full advantage of smartminting to impart impressive high-relief depictions of popular flowers in silver, topped off with some fine quality colouration. The Forget-Me-Not is the fifth issue, following Pink Rose, Daisy, Poppy, and Lotus designs. The style is a simple one, with a flower, struck in high-relief, filling most of the reverse face of the coin.
It’s another beautiful design, the flower exquisitely coloured with some subtle shading and blending. The background field, cleanly struck, is filled with scores of small flowers. The obverse, by contrast, is a simple national emblem of Palau, along with issue inscriptions. The polished edge is a nice touch, lifting the look of the whole coin, and highlighting the piedfort nature of it.
The coin weighs in at two ounces of 0.999 silver, with a 38.61 mm diameter, so a thick one. It comes boxed with a Certificate of Authenticity, and the mintage is set at 999 pieces. A very elegant coin that does a fine job bringing some of nature’s masterworks to numismatic life. Available to order now.
Golden Highlights: Golden Train 0.5 gram minigold shaped coin (2023 CIT)
Mik Woodgate2023-03-06T19:31:11+00:00March 6th, 2023|
Golden Highlights: Golden Train 0.5 gram minigold shaped coin (2023 CIT)
King of the 0.5 gram minigold coin, CIT, recently added a 45th issue to their varied ‘Golden Highlights’ range. The tiny minigold format has carved out a decently sized niche in the modern numismatic market, and we think that’s likely to continue if the price of gold rises again. A very affordable way to buy gold, even though not the best value way, of course, they also lend themselves to experimentation, as they can be mounted onto a necklace, ring, or charm bracelet, for example.
Golden Highlights is unusual in that each issue is shaped, not a standard format round coin. CIT have taken full advantage of that with a hugely varied range of designs, from transport and nature, to sport and culture. The latest entrant is a transport coin, released at the World Money Fair to coincide with the fifth ‘The Journey’ silver coin. Depicting a steam train, like its silver counterpart, it’s another neat and well-defined coin.
Issued for Palau, this range is unusual in having a denomination, but not an issue date, allowing them to be sold for longer. The mintage of 15,000 units means availability will be good. A clever range, trying to appeal to the widest range of collectors, perhaps as a gift to get a kid interested in the hobby. They come in a capsule with a COA, and there is an optional box available, although not all dealers offer them.
Imprint of Words: Time Is Money silver coin (2023 Mint XXI)
Mik Woodgate2023-03-06T14:19:43+00:00March 6th, 2023|
Imprint of Words: Time Is Money silver coin (2023 Mint XXI)
Using high-relief typography is certainly an unusual technique in numismatics, but when your subjects are some of the more iconic sayings and metaphors from history, it becomes all the more appropriate. The subject of the first ‘Imprint of Words’ coin is a phrase we hear quite often these days, ‘Time is Money’. Attributed to the American polymath, Benjamin Franklin, it infers that perhaps time has far more value than money, because you can’t earn back the former.
Looking like weathered metal with a fine coating of iron oxide, ‘Time is Money’ is spelled out using typeset letters, like those employed in the newspaper industry before the advent of digital. Each letter seems to be in a different font. It’s a clever use of high-relief, with crisp edges and lots of texture on the letters. A simple concept, but realised with great care, and success.
This is a two-ounce silver coin with a 45 mm diameter, which comes boxed with a Certificate of Authenticity. The mintage is capped at 500 pieces. We like coins a bit different here, and this fits the bill perfectly. Available now, it will be interesting to see where the series goes from here. Veni, Vidi, Vici, anyone?
Pointillism – Flower and Butterfly silver coin (2023 Numiscollect)
Mik Woodgate2023-03-02T20:52:26+00:00March 2nd, 2023|
Pointillism - Flower and Butterfly silver coin (2023 Numiscollect)
Without question, one of the more unusual coin ranges of recent years, Numiscollect’s ‘Dot Art’ series brings Pointillism to numismatics. The concept of pointillism is fundamentally simple, using coloured dots to build up an image that becomes more cohesive as you move away from it. It’s very effective. Indeed, before the advent of digital, newspapers used a dot shading system to display photographs in their pages. They looked terrible up close, but quite acceptable at normal reading distances, and could be printed with just black ink.
What Numiscollect have done, using smartminting, is give the coloured dots a third dimension – height. Their latest issue is the fourth in the series, and is titled ‘Flower with Butterfly’, which is also a perfect description of what’s depicted. There’s an expert use of colour, and the whole thing, except for the butterfly, is dot art. We think it’s a touch better than last year’s coin, but the best of the series remains the awesome whale coin from 2021, in our opinion. We like this series, as it brings something truly unique to an art coin genre currently swamped with new issues simply reproducing the masters.
This expansive 65 mm diameter coin has a black proof finish, and comes boxed with a Certificate of Authenticity. Just 333 pieces will be struck, which seems to be a great number given the previous three issues sold out at the mint. Available to order now.
