Meteorite Impacts: Aba Panu Meteorite
Cook Islands. 5 Dollars 2022. Silver .999. 1 oz. 38.61 mm. Proof. Mintage: 2,500 pieces. Special technologies: smartminting® (Ultra High Relief) with embedded meteorite fragment. B. H. Mayer’s Kunstprägeanstalt, Munich.
Description of the Coin
One side is a realistic depiction of a meteorite impact; in the crater an embedded piece of a meteorite. Above the legend ABA PANU METEORITE 2022 / 8˚ 16′ 55.83″ N / 3˚ 34′ 1.72″ E
The other side features the portrait of Elizabeth II, below IRB (= Ian Rank-Broadley), around it the legend ELIZABETH II 5 DOLLARS COOK ISLANDS 2022.
Background
CIT’s Meteorite Impacts series is probably the coin series worldwide that illustrates best how much minting technology has developed over the past two decades. The reason for this is that none of the 18 issues that have been released since 2004 is like any other. A single element unites them all: a fragment of a meteorite is embedded in the coin. The technical sophistication applied by B.H. Mayer to create this CIT-designed series is staggering. Therefore, as many as two issues of Meteorite Impacts were honored with an award. The series has many loyal collectors, so you need to be quick if you want to own one of the 2,500 specimens dedicated to the Aba Panu Meteorite.
The Aba Panu Meteorite hit Earth on April 19, 2018. It is named after the Nigerian village where its 160 kilograms’ worth of fragments landed. Although sand-sized particles of stars penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere every day, large, impressive meteorites are rare. On average, only once a year does a large meteorite hit Earth after burning up in the atmosphere as a magnificent fireball.
CIT dedicates its Meteorite Impacts series to all these sidereal messengers. The latest issue makes use of the purest form of smartminting technology: it depicts the cracked earth of the withered savannah where the meteorite struck in 2018. This simplicity is precisely what makes this coin the latest example of the artistry employed by CIT to create its meteorite series.
Further Information
www.cit.li/coins/aba-panu-meteorite-2022
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CoinWeek Podcast #155: Ultra-Modern Coins Take Over
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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.
