The NZ Mint’s late July releases include horror movies, Harry Potter, Batman, and a yellow bird who tawt he taw a puddy-tat…

In our second catch-up of New Zealand Mint popular-culture releases, we have the usual selection of Chibi, Harry Potter, DC Comics, Star Wars, and more, encompassing a decent selection of styles and formats. There should be something of interest here, but if not, the mint will have something soon, of course.

August will see a Wonder Woman logo, and a Showcase #4 Comix coin for the DC Comics franchise, and there’s a new Game of Thrones medallion. Star Wars gets a new Face’s of the First Order addition, an AT-ST Walker release in three formats, and a 3 oz Battle Scene coin, this time Anakin vs Obi-Wan. Extras consist of a GI Joe 40th anniversary coin, and the annual selection of Season’s Greetings, including the amusing Star Wars silver foil.

2022 HARRY POTTER: HOGWARTS GREAT HALL

The latest Harry Potter coin from the New Zealand Mint is the Great Hall of Hogwarts. A key location in the many movies where many a scene between the various houses were filmed, it was an expansive and impressive location to film in, but a little more subdued on a coin. It’s a good representation, but we feel it would have been enhanced greatly by the simple act of just putting in some people, and maybe an owl or two.

It’s still a very well produced design, with a fine sense of depth and perspective, and the antique finish suits it well. The presentation is top-notch, as usual. There are 3 oz and 1 oz formats available, both with an identical design.

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION WEIGHT DIAMETER FINISH MINTAGE BOX / COA
$2 NZD (Niue) 0.999 silver 31.1 g 40.0 mm Proof 3,000 YES / YES
$10 NZD (Niue) 0.999 silver 93.3 g 55.0 mm Proof 1,000 YES / YES

2022 BAMBI & FLOWER 80TH ANNIVERSARY

The 80th anniversary of the Disney classic animated movie, Bambi, continues with ‘Bambi & Flower’. It’s another largely coloured coin with a scene from the movie, so one for the fans. Again, the presentation is excellent, we like those boxes. This isn’t one of the new Disney masterpieces range, so there’s no 3 oz coin, it’s just a 1 oz version.

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION WEIGHT DIAMETER FINISH MINTAGE BOX / COA
$2 NZD (Niue) 0.999 silver 31.1 g 40.0 mm Proof, colour 1,942 YES / YES

2022 FRIDAY THE 13TH

Some of the old horror classics have been worming their way into the NZ mint’s ‘Chibi’ series of late, but it seems like we’re going to get some more traditional shaped coins as well, much like the mints Faces of Gotham, and Faces of the Empire series. The first to debut is the 1980 classic of the genre, and the film that launched a massive franchise, Friday the 13th.

Clearly, the hockey mask of Jason Vorhees was going to be the icon of choice, and that’s what we get here. This one is disappointing. The mask is a prime candidate for a proper, high-relief coin, with curved edges and a rounded, contoured face, but this flat coin with a thick, straight edge is very one-dimensional. It is clearly recognisable, and the touch of red colour works well, but it could have been better overall. Sorry.

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION WEIGHT DIAMETER FINISH MINTAGE BOX / COA
$2 NZD (Niue) 0.999 silver 31.1 g 38 x 28.16 mm Proof, colour 2,000 YES / YES

2022 FACES OF GOTHAM: HARLEY QUINN

Identical in concept to the Friday the 13th coin above, Faces of Gotham is a series now on its seventh release, in this case the DC Comics favourite, Harley Quinn. These are based on the comics, not the films, which suits this style of coin exceptionally well, and it’s fair to say that’s the case here. Bright, colourful and recognisable, just like a good comic artist would do.

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION WEIGHT DIMENSIONS FINISH MINTAGE BOX / COA
$2 NZD (Niue) 0.999 silver 31.1 g 36 x 26.34 mm Proof, colour 5,000 YES / YES

2022 CHIBI KRRSANTAN & CHIBI RAIDEN

Fresh today are the latest pair of new Chibi coins, the first of the two pairs that launch every month. These are additions to current subsets, the first, Krrsantan, the Wookie bounty hunter, is from Star Wars: Tales of Boba Fett, while the second, Raiden, is from the video game franchise, Mortal Kombat. We’ve added both to our gigantic Coin Series Profile to Chibi.

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION WEIGHT DIMENSIONS FINISH MINTAGE BOX / COA
$2 NZD (Niue) 0.999 silver 31.1 g 36 x 24.63 mm Proof, colour 2,000 YES / YES
$2 NZD (Niue) 0.999 silver 31.1 g 36 x 31.97 mm Proof, colour 2,000 YES / YES

2022 CHIBI GEORGE WASHINGTON

Chibi continues its relentless journey to its 100th issue, remarkable given the series is barely two years old, and this is the 90th of them. Eschewing the usual popular culture franchise that has marked out 95% of issues to date, we have the Mt. Rushmore Presidents for a change. A neat idea, it will be one for the US collector, certainly. There are four faces on the mountain, so at least we know how many coins there will be in this subset. This one if from late-July.

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION WEIGHT DIMENSIONS FINISH MINTAGE BOX / COA
$2 NZD (Niue) 0.999 silver 31.1 g 36 x 30.54 mm Proof, colour 2,000 YES / YES

2022 80 YEARS OF TWEETY

We can’t imagine anybody not loving Tweety, the little yellow canary that made Sylvester the cat’s life one of frustration. Introduced in 1942, he appeared in 46 cartoons up until 1962.

A terrific character, he’s now eighty years old, and this silver coin depicts him, along with his official anniversary logo. A simple one-ounce silver coin, with a proof finish, it nevertheless captures the spirit of Tweety really well, aided by some bang-on-point presentation.

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION WEIGHT DIAMETER FINISH MINTAGE BOX / COA
$2 NZD (Niue) 0.999 silver 31.1 g 40.0 mm Proof, colour 1,942 YES / YES