Panda comes to Tanzania on World Money Fair coin

A Panda coin for Tanzania was issued during the World Money Fair in Berlin.

Images courtesy of Champion Hong Kong Auctions.

Polymer technology popularized on German coins is now in use on the year’s annual Panda release for the World Money Fair in Berlin.

This year, the Panda being released is a coin, and for a country that likely has never hosted the animal itself.


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World Money Fair Panda medals have been released in recent years, but the 2019 World Money Fair Panda piece is the first coin. 

The 1,000-shilling coin from Tanzania features a polymer ring, award-winning technology that was popularized by the German State Mints in 2016. The technology combines polymer with metallic coin blanks.

The coin was conceived by Michael Chou of Champion Hong Kong Auctions and Mark Sutton of Middle Earth Mint, with a reverse design by top Chinese Panda coin designer and Shanghai Mint senior designer Yu Min.

B.H. Mayer Mint in Munich, Germany, produced the coin, which was created using 3-D modeling software (of an unspecified brand) that is used in the movie industry, according to Chou. 

Mayer’s production technology helped to produce the new, technically innovative panda coin, he said. 

Starting with the mint’s design in traditional plaster sculpts, the software lent greater depth, contrast and texture to the coin, Chou said. 

The 2019 Panda 1-ounce .9999 fine silver 1,000-shilling coin measures 40 millimeters in diameter.  

The obverse features the National Shield of Tanzania and the World Money Fair logo within the red polymer ring. 

The reverse features a young panda bear on a tree within the polymer ring and Chinese New Year lanterns outside the ring. 

The mintage is limited to 1,000 pieces. 

A first-strike ceremony was held at B.H. Mayer Mint on Jan. 25. 

The official distributor of the 2019 World Money Fair polymer commemorative silver Panda is Kuenker Auction. Numismatic Guaranty Corp. serves as the official grading service of the 2019 World Money Fair polymer commemorative silver panda.

For more information about the coin, visit Kunker’s website

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