Scottsdale Mint has developed a fine reputation in recent years for some pretty cool low-mid mintage silver bullion coins. Usually nature-themed, they’ve included such well known examples as the Silverback Gorilla series, the Congo Water Buffalo, and the Cayman Islands Marlin, amongst others. While there has been the occasional release in something beefier, most issues have been in the hugely popular on troy-ounce format and that’s the case here.

The Deathstalker Scorpion is an unusual and very cool subject for a bullion coin, although not the first archnid to feature on one. A mix of the stylistic and realistic, we like the design of this one a lot. The representation of the scorpion is excellent and rather than similarly replicate a background to match, an abstract one is used instead. The font used for the coin inscription is a little heavy metal cliched, but we can’t really argue it doesn’t fit in well.

The obverse features the emblem of the Republic of Chad in its centre, surrounded by the inscribed date (2017), denomination (500 FRANCS CFA), composition (1 TROY OUNCE)(.999 FINE SILVER) and issuer (REPUBLIQUE DU TCHAD). It actually themes in very well with the main reverse face as it so often does with nature themed coins from the African continent.

Limited in mintage to the usual Scottsdale 50,000 units, this would be a great coin to add to the collection. Obviously stackers will need to check out the premiums before investing in big numbers, but these don’t usually have an onerous premium and there’s always the likelihood that these will garner a better appreciation than a Maple, for example. A good addition to the market. Available now, encapsulated in strips of five although dealers will no doubt sell smaller or larger quantities without issue.