Modern Numismatics

Louis Golino has been a collector of American and world coins since childhood and has written about coins since 2009. He writes about modern coins and other numismatic issues for Coin World. He is a founding member of the Modern Coin Forum.

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Coins on space and astronomy themes, as I have noted in the past, are increasingly popular with modern coin enthusiasts.

Right on the heels of the new Mercury coin I discussed recently, there is another issue coming soon about Mars that was made by the Mint of Poland. 

First Coin Company (www.firstcoincompany.com) in California is the official USA and worldwide distributor for a new Niue legal tender coin called "Martian Meteorite NWA 6963," which comes in two sizes.

There is a $1, 1 oz. silver coin, which has a mintage of 500 pieces, and a $50, silver kilo coin with a mintage of a mere 99 coins. Both are produced with a premium, handmade antique silver finish and struck in high relief and of course come in an attractive wooden display box.

The design features a stunning color image of Mars and rock formations typical of the planet.

The 1 oz. version is being sold on a pre-order basis for $219.90, and the kilo is priced at $2,749.90, but the company is accepting best offers on the larger coin.  Or you can get $650 off the kilo coin with the code 7SKU.

All orders ship free worldwide and if you are assessed any import duties or taxes, those will be refunded by First Coin Company.  The June is expected to be available to ship in June.

The most exciting part in addition to the design, which depicts Mars, the red planet, is that these coins include fragments of NWA 6963, which is a meteorite that came from Mars. There is a separate certificate for the meteorite fragment.

A Martian meteorite, or shergottite, is a rock that formed on the planet Mars and was then ejected from Mars by the impact of an asteroid or comet and finally landed on the Earth.

NWA stands for Northwest Africa, which is where this particular meteorite was found.  According to the Meteorological Bulletin: “In September, 2011, a Moroccan meteorite hunter found the first pieces of NWA 6963 and sold it to AHabibi without giving the exact provenance. The hunter continued collecting pieces in the same area for about 6 months. In mid-May, 2012, the NWA 6963 locality, near the river Oued Touflit, became widely known and hundreds of meteorite hunters went to the area searching for more pieces. Pieces ranging from 100 to 700 g have been recovered, as well as a few small pieces (3-10 g), most of them are broken and partially covered by a thin fusion crust. The total mass may be as much as 8-10 kg.”

Mars is the second-smallest planet in our solar system after Mercury and was named for the god of war. The iron oxide on its surface gives it a reddish appearance. The planet also has seasonal cycles similar to those of the earth, and like in earth its seasons are produced through tilts.

The timing of the release of these coins is excellent as Mars has been in the news a lot recently. In addition to the current plan for volunteers to at some point go to Mars and live there for the rest of their lives and last year's hit movie with Matt Damon, The Martian, which won Academy Awards, there is brand-new research about the surface of Mars. 3.4 billion years ago when a large asteroid hit the planet, it triggered tsunamis that covered several hundred thousand square miles of the planet with water that has been frozen in the years since then.

**Please note that to see additional images you need to click on first one.