Silver 2oz Black Swan Coin Issued by CIT

Black Swan

Cook Islands. 10 Dollars 2023 Black Swan coin. Silver .999. 2 oz. 38.61 mm. Black Proof. Mintage: 2,500 pieces. Special technology: smartminting^® (Ultra High Relief) with partial color application. Minted by B. H. Mayer’s Kunstprägeanstalt, Munich.

Description of the Coin

 

One side depicts a black swan to the left; above, BLACK SWAN.

The other side features a white swan to the right. Above the portrait of Elizabeth II in a circle, below IRB (= Ian Rank-Broadley), around it the circumscription ELIZABETH II 10 DOLLARS COOK ISLANDS / 2023.

The lower part of the blank is flattened, enabling the coin to stand upright.

Background

Black and white, good and evil, yin and yang – CIT gets to the heart of this eternal antagonism with its new Black Swan collector coin. One side presents the depiction of a black swan, which is also known as Cygnus atratus among ornithologists. This species was endemic in Australia and New Zealand, before, in the 19th century, the nobility of the Old World imported a few birds as living ornaments for their parks.

The European swan and its dazzling white plumage became an emblem of fidelity and innocence. This was the very reason why Peter Tchaikovsky created a fairy tale of true love and betrayal with his Swan Lake ballet, where both – faithful Odette and perfidious Odile – woo the prince as swans. With the movie Black Swan (2010), modern popular culture envisioned this moral antagonism in the form of two birds – a white and a black swan.

What both birds have in common is their regal elegance when gliding through water. CIT captures this aesthetic perfection with utmost technical craftsmanship: an Ultra High relief combined with delicate color application on different finishes makes this coin a work of art, which can be placed on any desk thanks to its flattened lower part. The coin is a delight to both collectors and ornithologists as well as to all those who dream of the eternal beauty of ballet.

Further Information

https://www.cit.li/coins/black-swan/

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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.