Smartminting Week: CIT add Gandhi pair to their Revolutionaries series of silver and minigold coins
A relatively low key issue from CIT Coin Invest kicks off our look at smartminting this week. The first coin in this series, Chinggis Khan, was actually the one that introduced the potential of smartminting to the world. A reintroduction of a traditionally struck design, it showed the improvements that CIT and BH Mayer had developed in the minting process, with increased levels of detail and relief.
Now five coins old, this fifth issue depicts famous pacifist revolutionary activist, Mahatma Gandhi. Two versions as usual. The ubiquitous 0.5g minigold coin manages to stretch out to an impressive 13.92 mm and exhibit tons of fine detail for the format.
The silver coin is extraordinary. Having seen this one up close, I was hugely impressed by the depiction. Honestly, nobody mints faces like this producer. The official image, while of a high quality, doesn’t really show off the high relief very well, but CIT will soon have some extra images available (I did take a poor picture for our Instagram feed). Check out our Coin Series Profile of this series for more info.
| SPECIFICATION | ||
| DENOMINATION | 1,000 Togrog | 1,000 Togrog |
| COMPOSITION | 0.999 silver 31.1 grams | 0.9999 gold 0.5 grams |
| DIMENSIONS | 38.61 mm | 13.92 mm |
| FINISH | Proof | Proof |
| MINTAGE | 1,000 | 5,000 |
| BOX / C.O.A. | Yes / Yes | Optional / Yes |
Yes, the revers of the coins in this series are very, very realistic. But the obverse of them are ……. well they are clonic, with very little relief and very simple. It is a pity that they have only made coins with a very nice one side. I think that today they should make coins with both sides of great quality and not just one.
Fortunately at least CIT has announced this week two spectacular coins on both sides. The last of the Tiffany Art series and the first coins with smartminting RELOADED technology. I have seen videos taken at the World Money Fair of the so-called “Majestic Eagle” and they are impressive not only their designs, but also their reliefs on both sides. They are also those coins minted in the name of Mongolia, but fortunately the coat of arms of the Bank of Mongolia, facial value, etc. They are very well implemented, leaving a lot of space on the front for many other details.
I do agree and that’s why Euro coins have always been a favourite. However, it isn’t always possible to do so on issues from most places. CIT and others are often constrained by restrictions put on them by the issuing country. While these will never be used as currency, we do have to remember that they are legal tender and thus representative of the issuing nation.
We’re doing smartminting coins this week and will finish up with the reloaded coin. What we saw in Berlin was beautiful.
I agree with what you say. Although in this case, both this Ghandi coin and the Majestic Eagle series coins have been minted in the Mayer Mint, in the name of Mongolia and have all of them face value in Mongolian Togrog. But this coin has all the obverse occupied by the legal information of Mongolia and instead those of the Majestic Eagle series has all that information within a small circular area. It almost literally looks like a medallion on one side of the obverse because of the great relief in the Majestic Eagle.
I can only imagine that these boring obverse continue in this series of historical revolutionaries because they started that way and being a series they cannot change it now at this point.
Of course, this portrait of Ghandi is extremely realistic. I think I’ve never seen any portrait in a coin as realistic as this.