Somalia Elephant Silver And Gold Coins Anyone?

well... no gold elephants for me yet lol

@West

yea, they are beautiful coins, I cant stop gushing over how much I like them. I recently picked up the 2013s in color, gilded, and the regular silver finish and man, just they look so great.

What blows my mind is how after a couple of years the premiums seem to sky rocket on them, whether regular silver, color or gilded. I mean even the ones from two years ago already command a premium!

BTW, if you are looking at adding or stacking these, I couldn't help notice that out of ALL dealers, unless I am mistaken here, but APMEX has the best deal on a roll of these even after shipping and handling!

@West

Yes, I was SHOCKED that their 2013 roll of elephants is the lowest cost anywhere. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was so surprised that they boosted their Somalia elephant line; when I talked to them about it on the phone, I was told "oh we are closing these out because they are just silver rounds and we aren't going to carry them anymore going forward" and then months later, now they are carrying various dates, heck back a couple months they had all three gold coins, the kilo silver coin... and I was like WOW.

So clearly, if APMEX is carrying them, clearly collectors don't care if they are rounds, and the prices are such that there is sufficient demand that makes these coins sought after.


.... and yes, I thought I wouldn't be a fan of the color coins,, but the colored and gilded bring out the rich detail and beauty of these elephants. As an example, the plain silver coin, if one looks closely on the silver coin, you can see lines of texture given to the elephants skin. You really have to look at the coin to spot this. When you get the gilded coin, its there and you can focus on how well made the elephants are. However, when you get the colored coin, that's when you pull the beauty, depth and texture of the elephants with their skin. I mean just look the trunk of the elephant, a very nice rendition of the wrinkles and crevices in the skin.

Yes, that Rwanda wildlife series is fabulous as well! I bought a Rhino coin, and I haven't gotten the BU cheetah, HOWEVER, I did get the proof cheetah coin with COA and its beautiful! Going back to elephants, they have a wonderful elephant coin they made in 2009, which I snagged one for almost 4 times what the cheetah BU coin costs, and I been hunting for a proof elephant coin from the Rwanda series.

While we are talking about animals and elephants, rhinos, you might want to look for the Elephant Silver ounces from Gabon, BEAUTIFUL coin series, with already a rhino, baby lions and another coin already out. These coins are limited mintage, 1 oz and feature a antique finish with just a really life like finish, I HIGHLY recommend this series.

@West

I was under that impression at first. But then after some thought, and understanding who's making those, there's no doubt these are legal tender.

In fact, for a while, since at least this series started with the issuance of the Somali Republic, the 4 coin proof sets come with a COA which indicates these coins are legal tender. Furthermore, they carry the proper coat of arms for the Somali Republic. Since these are done in Germany, by a state mint, they could be sued and be stopped from minting these by making use of the EU legal court system.

Furthermore, we are talking about the Somali Republic, NOT the Somaliland which is a rouge breakaway state. I believe that's where the confusion has been at for years and as such, a type of urban legend has manifested itself.

Finally, you'll notice that APMEX is back to carrying them, under their own category, not under special products or silver rounds. No doubt APMEX has received clarification as to the validity of these coins.


As far as 2014 coins, I don't see why they wont make them. At this stage, from what I seen on the German wholesalers web site, they continue to carry the 2013 series.

One project I have undertaken is researching and digging into their laws on my spare time, to find the legislation regarding the minting of these coins. While I have no doubt in my mind these are indeed LEGAL TENDER, I would LOVE to find and learn more about the bills they have passed regarding their currency.

So here I am enjoying my morning, looking at ebay at the recent Somalian elephant coins, doing some research and I just about fell off my chair.... one dealer is offering a high relief silver 1 oz 2013 somalia elephant coin!

... and I am thinking,,, man these coins are already beautiful, I can just IMAGINE how great they must look in high relief, I am like, HOLY TOLEDO!! It appears the coins will come in a case with COA and limited to 1,000 coins.

Going to poke around and see if I can come up with more info on this one.

@Doug

I know huh!

One thing that is bugging me is the delivery date, while I don't mind the price, my experience has been on these pre-releases that the delivery date goes beyond whats expected. Then, what if you lock in that price and it goes lower.

On the flip side, I can certainly skip those concerns because it is a somalian elephant coin lol

I will have to look into this. Very interesting. Thanks yupp

Received my 2nd batch of 2013 1 oz. silver Elephants. I'll have to fetch my 1st batch to compare, but, I noticed what appears to be small patches of wear in the frost ooat on the Elephants in certain areas... on the majority of the coins. I'm guessing it's rub wear during the mfg. process. Do you have these on your 1 oz. bullion. Still, I think these are very nice looking coins and definitely going to hang onto every one of these and pass them down. Looking forward to 2014 design.