In what is turning out to be a bumper year for Scottsdale Mint, they’ve announced the release of another silver bullion coin and it’s an issue that doesn’t sit within the current ranges they have going, like the 2018 EC8 Caribbean range, or the Silverback Gorilla. This new coin is issued for an island nation, however, although one quite some way from the Caribbean.

Samoa is a new recipient of Scottsdale’s interest and the South Pacific nation lends its coat-of-arms to this new bullion coins obverse face. These coins are all about the reverse face though, and the seahorse is a good-looking one. Eschewing the realistic look of the recent APMEX exclusive effort issued for Barbados, this Samoan coin goes with a strictly stylised look, meant to look similar to a stained glass window. The border is quite large, limiting the space available for the seahorse image, but that border carries some art of its own – an extension of the stained glass theme. The overall effect is successful and quite different from the APMEX coin.

The mintage on this one ounce 0.999 silver coin is capped at 30,000 pieces, three times that of the Barbados issue, but Scottsdale have an impressive reputation amongst stackers for quality and selection, so we have little doubt these will sell well enough. Available to order any time now, they should start to ship from next week. There are to be two coins in this range through 2018 and the second one will be a reverse-proof variant that we expect to hear more about soon. Whether this is a bullion variant or a commemorative one remains to be seen.