We reported on the new Somali Elephant design few days ago with the appearance of the gold version. At the time, we didn’t have a silver coin image, so we mocked up a quick look that turned out to be pretty accurate except for one totally unexpected twist. That twist is the producers move to 0.9999 silver instead of the previous 0.999. In truth it’s a pretty meaningless change from the point of view of metal content, but the series has recently been attracting some negative comments for the appearance of the dreaded milk-spot contamination, and this may be an attempt to enhance the coins reputation in conjunction with improved production quality. It remains to be seen if the attempt is successful. It hasn’t helped that the 2016 design is just a horizontally flipped and mildly tweaked version of the 2009 coin which hasn’t gone down well with many buyers. Hopefully next year will see a truly new design as there have been some fine ones over the years.
A bullion coin by nature, many collect these as well as the inevitable proof versions, including a nice set of fractionals. As a bullion coin, the increased production numbers of the last few years have led to prices being far more competitive than in previous years, making this a fine coin for the stacker as well. Available to order now from Emporium Hamburg’s e-store Silber-Werte, like all previous years the coin will be very widely available from dealers around the world for a relatively reasonable premium over spot. It should start to ship in the next 3 weeks.
Excuse me but my English is not excellent.
For the 2016 coin, this will be the design you show us or not ???
Yes, this is the finished design.