Chugging along, just like the equally long-standing African bullion coin, the Somali Elephant, the Rwandan African ounce has always been a little more enigmatic and restricted in distribution than its cousin. Struck by the very talented BH Mayer in Germany, the series debuted in 2008 and early issues have seen some impressive appreciation on the secondary market. The design changes every year, but not excessively. The obverse and a large part of the reverse  have remained static, with the main annual change being the specific animal depicted.

For 2021, it’s the unusual Okapi, a zebra-striped relative of the Giraffe, also called the Forest Giraffe. The designer has done a terrific job this year, fitting the pair of grazing beasts into the space by the image of the continent very well and showing no signs of artistic compromise. Regular buyers will know what to expect, of course, but it’s good to see the series still capable of some great looking issues after so long.

As always, a 1oz 0.999 gold and a 1oz 0.999 silver make up the bullion range, with the former having a small mintage of just 100 pieces. The silver is unlimited in theory, but these aren’t struck all year, with the reality that finalised annual numbers tend to be quite low. A proof version of the silver coin is also offered with a 1,000 mintage. An attractive staple of the bullion calendar, this one is available to order now, with shipping starting in mid to late December. We’d love to do one of our Bullion Guides to this series, but getting decent images is a constant problem and we’ve struggled to get help from the coin issuer (not BH Mayer who just strike it). We will continue to pursue.