Scottsdale Mint adds a Koi Fish series to it;s bullion catalogue, with a Samoan Sea Dragon and the 9th Silverback Gorilla in tow

An integral part of Japanese culture, the Koi, a species of decorative carp widely kept for its beauty, also has significant cultural importance. It’s appeared on several coins in the past, including a very pretty proof offering from the New Zealand Mint, but we think this is the first time it’s appeared on a bullion release.

Anyone familiar with their local tattoo parlour will recognise the inspiration for the design, and the pair of fish, laid out in a yin-yang style, is a staple of the genre. It’s an attractive design, surrounded by a relatively wide border, which is usually a negative for us, but it isn’t filled with inscriptions this time, but with a stylised pattern. In fact, inscriptions are notably absent from the reverse face. That border is also present on the obverse face, here surrounding the national emblem of Fiji.

Quite an extensive range, it consists of the same four variants that made the EC8 range so popular, namely one-ounce gold and silver coins in clean and coloured forms, the latter boxed with a Certificate of Authenticity. In addition, there’s a small gold bullion coin tipping the scales at a tenth of an ounce. A great addition on affordability grounds, and it appears to give up little in aesthetics.

A perennial favourite, the Congo Silverback Gorilla range debuted in 2015, and has dropped a new design every year since. The 2023 coin is the ninth to date, and a nice return to depicting this gentle cousin in a way more accurate than the usual King-Kong style, chest-beating, fangs bared pose that is usually the case. We like that, of course, but it shouldn’t be the only way to show these incredibly, complex animals.

We’re big fans of this design, showing us an adult holding an infant, just as a human would. A leaf patterned border surrounds the pair for about 60% of the coin’s diameter. The obverse, common to the series, is a simple national emblem of the Republic of Congo. There’s the usual one-ounce gold and silver variants, and we’re pleased to see the tenth-ounce gold return after its 2022 debut. Check out all the previous issues in our Bullion Coin Profile of the range.

Now, this is a pretty coin, particularly in antiqued form. We’re currently not sure if this is the start of a new series, or a continuation of the Samoan Seahorse series, which the Sea Dragon is closely related to. We suspect the latter, but we’ve kept it separate in our big summary guide to Scottsdale bullion series. That series debuted in 2018, adding the antiqued variant in 2019, which has remained an integral version since then.

The border design is considerably more ornate than prior issues, and the creature, is realised in it’s fully weird and unusual form. Nature sure does throw out some unique creations – a pity we’re killing them all… The obverse carries the Samoan national shield emblem.

Not our usual thing, but we’re rounding up Scottsdale releases, so why not. There’s a fairly large prepper market in the US, based around the idea that when it all goes a bit Pete Tong, society will go back to bartering with gold and silver. Whatever your views, the market exists, but with gold reaching some big values these days, it becomes considerably less practical to use an ounce for a packet of peanuts.

Hence, we have these dinky one-gram bars sporting the Scottsdale lion logo, and also available in neat plastic boxes of 100 units, allowing you to barter for all those end-of-world goodies, like a Mad Max motor, or a front-row seat at the Thunderdome…