Royal Mint debuts two new 2018 bullion coins in their popular ongoing multi-year series

The Royal Mint has expanded the choice available in what have become their most eagerly awaited bullion coin ranges. The Shēngxiào Lunar series is now five coins into a 12-coin cycle with the launch of the Year of the Dog variant. The design is another by the Chinese-British artist, Wuon-Gean Ho, who has designed all the coins in this series to date. She describes it ‘The dog I have depicted is a mixed breed, like a West Highland White Terrier crossed with a Jack Russell. I wanted to show the energy and exuberance of a more compact dog. Bouncy, full of life and very playful, terriers have a quick intelligence, lots of loyalty and big personalities’.

In a clever twist, the background pattern is a biometric nose-print from a greyhound. The patterned background on the obverse looks particularly good and is shared with the latest Queens Beasts coin. Available in one-ounce silver and one-ounce gold formats, I’ve always liked this series for being quite different to everything else out there, for having its own unique look. We know it’s a range that divides opinions and that’s also a good thing. Nobody wants to see a stagnant market filled with middle of the road designs.

The Queens Beasts range seems to be almost universally popular. A quintessentially British set of designs by Royal Mint star Jody Clark, the Queens Beasts will be a set of ten coins released a pair per year. This new bullion design has already been used on a proof coin and this is the fourth of the set to debut. The Unicorn of Scotland is available in two-ounce silver, as well as quarter-ounce and one-ounce gold forms. All the coins are available to order now.