AC/DC: Highway to Hell
Cook Islands. 2 Dollars 2018. Silver .999. 1/2 oz. 168 mm (sic!). Prooflike. Mintage: 1973 pcs. B. H. Mayer’s Kunstprägeanstalt, Munich.
Description
The obverse features the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II designed by Ian Rank-Broadley (initials IRB); surrounded by the monarch’s name, the issuing country, and the denomination 2 DOLLARS.
The reverse presents the cover of the AC/DC album Highway to Hell in color. Below the year of issue 2018.
Story
Highway to Hell was AC/DC’s global breakthrough as a hard rock band. The album was released on July 27, 1979 and more than 9.5 million copies have been sold to this day. The cover is just as exceptional as these numbers. It is the only one of AC/DC’s covers that shows the entire band clearly recognizable as individuals. It is the last album featuring Bon Scott as lead vocalist before he died on February 19, 1980. The opening title track, “Highway to Hell”, still is a classic of hard rock music.
CIT Coin Invest AG has transferred the original 1979 cover onto an innovative issue in cooperation with Perryscop Productions. With a diameter of 168 mm (sic!) and a weight of half an ounce, this piece almost transitions between coin and banknote. While one side has been colored by way of pad printing, the other side remains silver and features lines that imitate the grooves of a record. Just like a record, the coin can be stored in a packaging designed as a record sleeve.
This is the third issue in the AC/DC series. The only aspect these coins have in common, however, is the band as a common theme. All of the three issues are designed completely different. The issue “Black Ice”, which is sold out, was struck in high relief – which is the complete opposite of the banknote-thin issue commemorating Highway to Hell.
Just like the band, the coins of this series cannot be defined in one common style.
Learn more about this coin and the AC/DC series at www.coin-invest.li
