banner

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Coins with Embedded Gemstones Are Real Treasures

Some mints have managed to include gemstones in their coins. These coins are intended to be collected, and one would not expect to see them in circulation.

There are several ways to add stones to a coin, and the Perth Mint seems to have mastered all of them.

Both the Mint of Poland and the Royal Canadian Mint have used gems extensively.

There are occasional coins or series with gemstones commemorating religious people or places.

There are numerous countries that have coins honoring Pope John Paul II, either as a person of significant importance or in honor of a papal visit to a country. These could be considered as religious, or one might simply consider them as historically significant.
The Cook Islands has numerous spiritual coins in fine silver with gemstones. These are quite unique. They are not round. They take the shapes suggested by the subjects of the coins. Silver coins of unique shape highlighted in gold and encrusted with stones make some of the most magnificent coins available.

Belarus, has, through the Mint of Poland, issued a five coin series honoring Orthodox Saints. These definitely carry a religious message. Each of the five coins in this series are available as proof silver coins, proof gold coins, and uncirculated gold coins. The silver coins have an oxidized finish, giving them a unique appearance. Each coin also contains four synthetic stones. The coins are round, but a colored rectangular image appears on the obverse of each, making them take on the iconoclastic look. These coins were minted by the Mint of Poland for the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus. The subjects of the Belarus Orthodox Saint series includes St. Panteleimon, St. Seraphim of Sarov, St Seraphim of Sarov, St. Sergii of Radonezh, and St. Nicholas.

The Perth Mint of Australia has been making one kilogram silver coins with embedded gemstones. The lunar coins of series I had diamonds embedded. Currently, the Perth Mint is working through series II, and each year the gemstone changes.



The Perth Mint, the Mint of Poland, and the Royal Canadian Mint all have used gemstones in coinage.

The Perth Mint's Treasures of Australia and the Treasures of the world are unique in that there is a window in the metal that encases several small stones. Also significant is that the Perth Mint uses many different stones, while the Royal Canadian Mint and the Mint of Poland are more inclined to set Swarovski crystals.

Gemstones enhance coins with great beauty not attainable with just metal.

The Australian Treasures of Australia and Treasures of the world series combines coin with gemstones: The gold coins have a denomination of $100AU and contain 1 ounce of gold. The current issues are the gold nugget coins. The past issues were the sapphire, opal, and diamond coins. The remaining coins will have pearls included in them.
The series also has three 1 ounce silver coins, with denominations of $1AU. They are all proof quality. Unfortunately, these coins sell out rapidly.
The Treasures of Australia series shows the richness of the continent of Australia, and results in some beautiful coins. To view these, or to order the gold coins, go to Blackspanielgallery.com and click the Australian button. From there migrate to the mint gift shop, made easy by the banners.
The gemstone coins are products of the Perth Mint. Black Spaniel Gallery maintains a link to these coins on our website.


Once the Treasures of Australia silver and gold coin series finished, the Treasures of the World began.





Modern World Coins (Official Red Books)
















No comments:

Post a Comment