Scottsdale Mint adds Equatorial Guinea to its extensive portfolio of nations, with the debut of the Guinea Giraffe bullion coin

Prolific bullion coin specialist, Scottsdale Mint, has released its latest effort today, and for the West African nation, the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. Not a country known for numerous coin issues, Equatorial Guinea is a former Spanish colony of only 28,000 sq.km in area. Said to be the richest country in Africa by GDP because of its oil riches, it’s also one of the most unequal and brutal. It has a tropical climate, and a vast biodiversity, not least with some of the most famous African animals of all.

One of those is the Giraffe, that most distinctive of animals. This long-necked ungulate has appeared on several coins before, despite having a shape not exactly conducive to fitting on a small circle of metal. Scottsdale have taken the sensible approach to depict the animal in portrait form, indeed, two animals. A good-looking view of these creatures, there’s a good use of accurate anatomy and perspective, so we have no complaints when it comes to that. The border is a little wide for our taste, but at least the giraffes pass over it in places, thus taking full advantage of the coin’s area.

The obverse has the national coat-of-arms of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea covering the central area. Not the most imaginative looking of emblems, especially compared to many other African nations, but Scottsdale Mint has added a texture to the background to busy it up a little. Again, the border is a little wide, but that’s something we notice on most mints bullion coins, so hardly a serious complaint.

Two formats make up the range. The obvious one is the one-ounce 0.999 silver, a staple of the bullion coin market. This has a mintage of 15,000 pieces, and comes encapsulated. The 0.9999 gold coin is a whole lot rarer, topping out at just 100. It’s also struck to a brilliant uncirculated finish, but comes boxed with a Certificate of Authenticity. Overall, a nice release, with attractive mintages. Available to order now, it should ship around the end of the month.