A hugely popular series, Chiwoo Cheonwang tells the story of a tribal leader considered one of the three legendary founding fathers of China. He is often depicted guarding the gates of hell, waiting for the coming war, but in this latest design, it appears that war is very much upon him.

We’ve always been admirers of this series, offering something quintessentially Korean in a market devoid of it otherwise, The 2022 offering is a more dynamic, action-packed design, but is still recognisably a Chiwoo coin, The obverse still features the neat Doggaebi design, along with the fake denomination. We’ve yet to have the mintages of the 10 oz silver and the gold pair confirmed yet.

An immensely popular animated television show, The Simpsons has attracted a few numismatic releases over the years, primarily from the Perth Mint, but we have to say that the bullion range, also from this Australian producer, is easily the best representation of the dysfunctional family on coins. There have been some terrific designs over the last few years, and the latest, Bart Simpson, keeps up the high standard.

These always look great in hand, very sharp and clean, suiting the subject well. The coin has a mintage of 25,000 units overall, but of those, 2,500 units are mounted to these neat cards, and available for sale directly from the mint.

The fifth dip into the world of DC Comics for their bullion series, the New Zealand Mint is adding The Flash to its line up of superheroes. Only Cyborg is missing from the Justice League movie team, although it’s important to note that this series is firmly rooted in the comic books, and not the movie universe.

Depicting Barry Allen in full costume, and at full speed, it continues the series signature of also carrying the character’s iconic logo. As before, there are one-ounce coins in gold and silver, with the former having a particularly small mintage of just 150 pieces. The obverse is a simple effigy of Queen Elizabeth II by Ian Rank Broadley.

The fifth in this neat series produced by the Perth Mint, and distributed by Metal Market EU, this is the fourth to depict a pair of these fascinating birds. They’ve told the story of an emu family, and this follows last year’s first look at the emu chick, with a mother keeping watch over a more mature offspring. It’s an attractive piece, this time by Neil Hollis.

The same choice of one-ounce silver or gold, both in four-nines fineness, we can’t imagine any previous collector of this series being disappointed with this one. As always, the obverse is just an effigy of Queen Elizabeth II, this time the latest version by Jody Clark.

Now, this has been a firm AgAuNEWS favourite since the pretty Tiger pair debuted in 2020, and that was further enhanced by an equally lovely Cheetah pair last year. For 2022, we’re moving away from the Big Cats, and firmly into just plain BIG territory. As has been the series signature, the gold and silver coins, both an ounce in weight, carry completely different designs.

The silver coin features a herd of Sumatran elephants, concentrating on the animals, with little in the way of environment. By contrast, the gold coin has a formidable bull African Elephant on it, firmly grounded in a habitat packed with flora. We do prefer the gold design, to be honest, but there are only 250 of those being minted, and of course, it’s gold. Nevertheless, the silver is a fine substitute.

Another series enjoying its fifth release, Emporium Hamburg’s ‘African Wildlife: Leopard’ has a style quite similar to that of the much longer running Somali Elephant series, also by this producer. The wide border carries the issue inscriptions, with the artwork being firmly centred within it. A nice looking design again, depicting a leopard surveying its hunting grounds.

We’ve listed the basic one-ounce gold and silver coins, but previous years have seen a wide range of sizes, finishes and sets, so we’d expect the range to expand in the coming months. At present, we have just the gilded and coloured variants of the silver bullion coin. The obverse features the coat-of-arms of the Republic of Somalia on it.

A hugely beloved movie classic by Steven Spielberg, ET: The Extra Terrestrial is now 40 years old, and the New Zealand Mint, in conjunction with APMEX, have released a bullion coin in celebration. Depicting ET raising a glowing finger, it’s a very recognisable image from the movie, and sure to attract fans. We’re particularly pleased to see the usually staid obverse actually getting some love and attention this time.

The ultra-iconic scene of the flying bicycle crossing in front of the moon suits the coin beautifully. Again, there are one-ounce gold or silver offerings, with just 250 gold coins seemingly quite desirable given the popularity of the subject.

The fourth issue of the annual World’s Wildlife Series, also from Emporium Hamburg, is dedicated to the Bear, and follows last year’s Bald Eagle issue. We’ve always had a soft spot for this series, mainly because it eschews the wide border of the Leopard and Elephant ranges, but also because of the variety of designs that make it up. What you see here are the one-ounce gold and silver bullion versions, but the series also has numerous other variants, from a minigold, to a five-ounce gold.

There’s also a four-coin set including three fractionals, each of which carries a completely different design. Spread across all the variants, are a total of four different coin designs, but at present, we only have this, the most popular of them. Fortunately, it’s a great design, doing full justice to this imposing beast. The obverse features the coat of arms of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The 5th anniversary of Pobjoy Mint’s Pegasus bullion coin series, they’ve issued a special limited edition version with a 5-year privy mark. While the design is unchanged in other regards, this APMEXclusive has what they’re calling an ‘enhanced’ prooflike finish. The design is the key here, and this remains another good-looking coin.

The obverse carries an effigy of Queen Elizabeth II, although this time, it’s Pobjoy’s own version, unique to their issues. As with most of the coins in this round-up, there are one-ounce gold and silver variants, the former with an exceptionally low mintage of just 50 pieces.

The next Norse Gods coin from Intaglio Mint is a perennial favourite, Thor, a deity that needs no introduction. The obverse from Freya returns, complete with the neat patterned border, something also woven into the background of the reverse face. However, most of that is covered with the main image, and Thor is as busy as Freya was in that regard.

Depicting Thor, hammer in hand, on a chariot pulled by two rams, it’s certainly an action-packed scene, with hardly any of this face not covered with it. Looks decent, although we haven’t seen anything by this producer in hand.