Guy Fawkes Coin Highly Original

Guy Fawkes Coin Highly Original

Power Coin, a major Italian numismatic distributor based in Rome, announced during the August World Fair of Money in Anaheim, California that it is releasing two new silver commemoratives this fall. 

Previous coins created at the initiative of this company include the Hamsa coin I discussed recently and the Ceilings of Heaven series that uses nano chips.

These coins were produced through a collaboration involving Power Coin, which provided the original concept, Coin Invest Trust (CIT) in Lichtenstein, which then developed the idea into a coin, and B.H. Mayer of Germany, which actually minted the coins.

I will be covering the first coin this week, and the second next week.  Both are very original coins.

First up is the visually stunning Guy Fawkes mask, $5 1-oz. silver proof coin, issued under the legal authority of the Cook Islands. 

This coin uses CIT’s revolutionary SmartMinting technology to create amazing high relief coins, but it also uses a special paint that creates a porcelain effect on the main design device, a stylized depiction of the mask of Guy Fawkes.

The mask design, which is based on the creation of illustrator David Lloyd for the 1982 book, V for Vendetta, which also became a film in 2006, shows Fawkes with an oversized smile, large, black eyebrows, black eyes, a moustache upturned at both ends, and a thin, pointed beard. 

The new coin is also the first ever “black proof” coin, which makes the background more distinctive. 

Who is Guy Fawkes?

Fawkes, also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.  That was an attempt to blow up the House of Lords.

The mask has emerged as a powerful modern cultural symbol of protest and has been used by groups protesting against politicians, banks, and financial institutions, and as symbol of the online hacktivist group Anonymous.

This coin is significant primarily for its originality in both concept and appearance that make if very different from anything else released so far.

With so many world commemorative coins being issued today, to be successful a coin must have something other coins do not, and this one fits that bill very well.

It also nicely blends old and new by focusing on someone from the 16^th century who has become a modern symbol of resistance to powerful elites. 

The Fawkes mask also blends old and new by adding certain modern flourishes to the original design such as a hoodie and the leaves from the United Nations symbol.  The signature of Fawkes is also included.

Only 999 of these coins are being issued, and the coin should be available in October.  They are housed in a high quality, lacquered wood display box.

You can purchase the Fawkes piece directly from Power Coin (www.PowerCoin.it) and it is also available from other companies, including First Coin Company (www.FirstCoinCompany.com) and the Coin Shoppe (www.TheCoinShoppe.ca). 

If you get it from First Coin, the company will send a free Anonymous Head mask along with the coin.