Eclectic Nature – Roller
Cook Islands. 5 Dollars 2022. Silver .999. 1 oz. 38.61 mm. Proof. Mintage: 1,500 pieces. Special technology: smartminting® (Ultra High Relief), color. Minted by B. H. Mayer’s Kunstprägeanstalt, Munich.
Description of the Coin
One side features a left-facing European roller, below the inscription ECLECTIC NATURE; the field is divided into two unequal parts, one of them has a shiny Proof finish, the other a black finish.
The other side features the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Ian Rank-Broadley (initials: IRB); around it the name of the ruler, the issuing nation, and the denomination.
Background
Eclectic Nature is the title of a series that CIT started in 2021 with the depiction of the Siamese fighting fish. CIT used state-of-the-art minting technology in order to showcase the elegant and colorful fish. A complete success!
In 2022, an at least equally colorful bird is to succeed the fighting fish: the European roller (Coracias garrulus). Its iridescent blue wings, whose colors alternate between azure, ultramarine, turquoise, and olive green, already fascinated Albrecht Dürer. In 1512, he captured one of them in a detailed watercolor study and painted the much lesser-known image of the Dead Blue roller, which served him as a model, in the same year.
In fact, the wings of the vibrant bird, which CIT features prominently, too, are a marvel of evolution – and not only due to their coloring. The roller uses them to cover distances between 4,000 and 8,000 kilometers every year.
And it’s only possible because nature has favored or – as Darwin would put it – selected the most capable individuals to advance their species over generations. And that’s exactly what the Greek word eklektós means, to which CIT alludes in the title of the series: selected, chosen. CIT dedicates a marvel of minting technology to this marvel of nature. Ultra-high relief, sophisticated color application, black finish, and Proof are combined to create a small work of art of the kind that can only be designed by CIT and that only B.H. Mayer can turn into reality.
Further Information
www.cit.li/coins/eclectic-nature-roller
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CoinWeek Podcast #155: Ultra-Modern Coins Take Over
Mobile phone users. Stream this podcast for free by downloading the podomatic app or subscribe to the CoinWeek Podcast on iTunes.
In this episode of the CoinWeek Podcast, we have a lively, interesting, and provocative conversation with Chang Bullock and Orlando Lorenzana of CIT, where we talk about how ultra-modern coins (or postmodern coins, as we call them) have taken over the contemporary coin market and how CIT’s innovations in color and coin minting technology are changing the game for private and sovereign mints.
You cannot walk away from this podcast without learning something about the way minting has changed–and has always been changing throughout the course of monetary history–and we hope it will give you a clearer picture of where we are heading.
