The Pobjoy Mint, Europes largest privately owned mint, is based in the UK, but unlike the Royal Mint, indeed unlike most national mints, they strike a wide variety of subjects not tied to their locality. They also like to experiment with their coin designs, not to the level of CIT or the Mint of Poland for sure, but they have released many coin firsts over their lifetime.

This new coin certainly isn’t a British subject, being about as American as it gets, and features a popular ultra-high relief strike, fortunately devoid of colour or inserts which we don’t believe were necessary additions for this design. The subject matter is a celebration of 150 years since the Civil Rights Act was enacted in the United States, and the chosen depiction for it is the classic statue of Abraham Lincoln that resides in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.

The coin is incused (concave) on the reverse face, and has what looks to be a very high level of relief, helped along by being a 2oz double-thickness piedfort. Both techniques in conjunction have given the Lincoln statue a very three-dimensional look in coin terms, enhanced further by being essentially rimless. It’s a very clean and bold design with our only real complaint being the placement of the denomination which would’ve been better on the obverse side of the coin out of the way. That obverse carries an effigy of Queen Elizabeth II, one of Pobjoys own design, not the usual one by Ian Rank Broadley, along with the standard inscriptions.

Packaged in a classic walnut-effect box, the coin is available to purchase now from the Pobjoy website for £120.83 plus tax. It joins a coin distributed by Silvertowne, and a very nice coin by MNI in showing this seminal statue in fine silver.

MINTS DESCRIPTION

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was a natural extension of President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation and other initiatives he enacted before his assassination in 1865. It was designed to protect the rights of African-Americans and former slaves, and it laid the groundwork for the civil rights movement a century later.

The Civil Rights Act was the first United States federal law to define US citizenship and affirm that all citizens are equally protected by law. To commemorate the 150th Anniversary of this landmark legislation, this phenomenal Ultra High Relief coin depicts the dramatic seated figure of Lincoln from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

The Ultra High Relief  and incuse image is accomplished through multiple high-pressure strikes on a double-thick Piedfort, creating a deep design that is truly three-dimensional.

The statue in the Lincoln Memorial was carved by Piccirilli Brothers under the supervision of the sculptor Daniel Chester French and took four years to complete. The statue, which was originally intended to be only 10 feet/3 metres tall finally stood at 19 feet/5.8metres tall and this amazing coin is a fitting tribute to one of the best-known Presidents of the United States.

The design features the seated figure of Abraham Lincoln produced in Ultra High Relief based on the statue situated in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. The obverse of the coin features an effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II exclusively by Pobjoy Mint.

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SPECIFICATION