The Gold Village brings the South American Greater Thornbird and its spiky nest to numismatic life

Found throughout South America, the Greater Thornbird is an unusual avian, freckle-breasted, around 20 cm in length, and with a loud song. It got its name from the habit of building its cone-shaped nest in amongst thorny branches, adding to the effect with more thorny twigs on top. The nest hangs several metres off the ground under a branch, sometimes over water, and has a soft-lined interior, but the exterior of the nest is a serious deterrent to predators.

The Gold Village have taken this fascinating bird as inspiration for this striking new coin. The Thornbird is depicted in a nest of spiky twigs, adorned with red coloured flowers, looking like roses in this case. The high-relief has been used to fine effect, with clever layering giving the impression the bird is within the nest. The sense of depth looks to be enhanced by the application of the antique finish.

The coin is issued for the African nation, the Republic of Gabon, and their coat-of-arms takes pride of place in the centre of a complex background design of tree branches, replete with twigs. The difference in finishes means contrast is not a problem. Like all coins from The Gold Village, and Mint of MK, the serial number is engraved on the coin’s edge.

We like this one, as it offers a different look to most other bird coins, and the use of finish and high-relief has been expertly utilised to enhance the depth of it. It’s also not a subject we often see, and it deserves extra kudos for that. It comes boxed, and in one of those superb solid acrylic frames for easy display. This three-ounce silver coin has a mintage of 333 pieces, and is available for pre-order now.