After years of just ticking along with low-mintage Fijiian Taku bullion coins, the New Zealand Mint has embraced the bullion coin market over the last couple of years with a lunar range, and now a selection of coins featuring elements of their big popular culture franchises. Disney has seen both a lunar coin and a Steamboat Willie design, both in gold and silver. A surprise Star Wars issue depicted uber-villain Darth Vader and proved to be a popular coin.

A second Star Wars themed bullion coin has now been announced, although won’t be available until the 2nd November. Sticking with the baddie theme, the coin depicts the ultra-iconic Imperial Stormtrooper holding a blaster and is another all-new design. The pseudo bas-relief style is back and the coin looks great. A small NZ Mint privy mark sits on this face. Like Darth Vader, we don’t doubt this will look very nice in hand. Issued for Niue, the obverse is the usual effigy of Queen Elizabeth II.

As before, it’s available in the classic one-ounce format for both metals, with mintages limited to 250,000 for the silver and 25,000 for the gold. The gold coin will be available encapsulated singly or in a wrap of ten, the silver in tubes of 25 or themed monster boxes of 250. The monster box is lightly themed for those with the means to pick up 250 coins. A great release, we can see this one being very popular.