Endangered Species Silver Coins

In 2013 the New Zealand Mint released a new series called the endangered species, the first coin was a very unappreciated coloured coin depictin the Venerable Collared Lizard, in my opinion a stunning coin in proof finish and a mintage of 2,000. Im not really a fan of coloured coins but if they are tastefully done then they can brighten up a coin collection.

The Venerable Collared Lizard shows the endangerd species on a desert background and part of a globe on the left. The lizard is from Mexico.

The second coin in the series released in 2014 was the critically acclaimed Black Rhinoceros depicting a rhino with its reflection in the lake, an amazing coin and i remember being disappointed this coin was not nominated for coin of the year, again a low mintage of 2,000 this coin introduced alot of interest in the endangered species collection. In 1993 there were only 2,300 Rhinos left in the wild, by the time this coin was minted in 2014 the population had incresed to over 5,000. The only critisism of this coin was they did not contribute any of the sales to aid in the conservation of any of the animals.

The third coin is an amazing Bengal Tiger which was released in 2015. It carried on with the same theme as the rhino and showed the tiger walking by a lake and showing its rippled reflection. In 2015 there were estimated to be just 2,500 Bengal Tigers left in the world.

The great selling point of these coins were the packaging, each coin came in its own wooden crate, the lid held on with small magnets and came with an individual coa, the crate boxes are just something else.

But, and this is a big but... I stopped collecting these coins when New Zealand mint decided to rush out each subsequent release, the gorilla, hippo, panda and whatever else were released very quickly to wrap up the series and in my opinion were not of the same quality in the design and looked cheap. I was hoping to get one of these every year and build up a stunning set but i was not happy when New Zealand mint decided to just throw the last few coins out to move on to better things, even to this day i am reluctant to buy any New Zealand mint coins and will not put any hope or effort into collecting any of their series and i have no interest in finishing this set, well unless i spot one of the coins for a steal.

Anyway hope everyone has had a fantastic Easter and i have some propper bobby dazzlere on their way, ive had a mad spending spre and spent the profit i made off steem when it shot up purely on coins so i shall be showing off my spoils.