Unusual New Shapes Of Coins

They are interesting, but not my cup of tea.

I like some of the weird things the mint has been producing, not something I personally collect not do I think I would call them coins. I think commems summed them up perfectly.

Can they please make a corona-shaped coin? To commemorate the end of Omicron wave?

We build them, you buy them !

@sap said it well.

These issues have very little to do with numismatics; they are giftware. Certainly some of them are very interesting to look at, and if I like some of the the smaller and flat ones (fit into a 2 1/2 x 2 1/2) I may get them if they are available cheaply in the aftermarket, but I honestly don't pay much attention to these special mint issues any more.

Personally, coin collecting for me needs to be rooted in what is released for spending. I am not quite as strict as @sap with the 2x2 or crown sized 2.5x2.5 constraint... I am happy with NCLT versions of coins that are released to circulation. I even stretch to coins that while recognizably coins, would never be released for circulation... In this I include items such as colourized coins, Proof silver or gold releases and anything that is basically coin shaped and could be mistaken for a circulating item (metal notwithstanding). I will even grant a hall pass to "big" coins such as the RCM series or the 5oz ATB series quarters which while never a circulating size, still resembles a coin albeit oversized.

I draw the line at spheres, Starship Enterprise outlines, King Tut's mask, diamonds, Carousels, figurines...etc. Don't get me wrong, these items should exist as there are folks that want them either individually or as part of a collection but sticking on a monarch's head and giving it a Face Value does not make it a coin. The French Mint does a great job of selling traditional NCLT product but also non-coin objects without a Face Value or Euro label. More mints around the world should follow suit.

In the bullion world, the RCM issues silver bars alongside maple leaf coins. The bars don't have a Face Value nor a Monarch's head but they are still collected/stacked. I don't know why there is a need to add a denomination to a diamond shaped block of silver or an intricate working carousel.

Figurines in bronze & silver
Bracelets

Marketing. All of their market research proves, again and again, that "coins sell, other non-coin things like medals don't".

A statement which really only holds true for the "coin collectors" target market, which as I've said isn't the target market for many of these products. Would the New Zealand Mint have been able to sell all 299 solid silver Death Stars if they weren't given legal tender status by Niue? Probably, yes. They might even have sold more of them, since at least some of the Star Wars fans would have been put off by the giant face of Elizabeth II, whose portrait certainly did not grace the "real" Death Star. Though it's entirely possible that Lucasfilm wouldn't have granted permission for the artifacts to be created unless they were "coins". But we'll never know, because the mints cannot break away from their "coins > medals" mindset.

It's also possible that the mints, especially the private mints like New Zealand Mint, don't want to end up like Franklin Mint - which in the end was making and selling collectable plates, Star Trek chess sets, pocket knives and such, but not coins. They know that their actual bread-and-butter customers, the coin collectors, are put off by reading a product catalogue that's full of non-coins.

Since 2017 when I collected fictional spacecraft, these are the only ones. So, Star Trek? or Star Wars? What's your pleasure? (There is also a handful of 20/4/20 Star Trek coins not shown.

USS Enterprise 2017, $100 Canadian, 10 ounces Fine Silver


Millennium Falcon 2022, $5.00 NIUE 3 ounces Fine Silver