I think we’re not alone in believing that some of the very best that the modern numismatic world has to offer are in the field of architectural coins. Ever since Coin Invest Trust kicked off the genre with its award-winning Tiffany Art coin in 2004, there have been multiple new series from various mints entering the fray and fighting for collectors money. CIT expanded their range a acouple of years ago to include a very limited mintage one-kilo version of its Tiffany series featuring all new designs. As before, it hasn’t taken long for others to join in, although the expertise and cost of these will obviously limit the broadening of choice somewhat.

Stepping up last May was Spanish coin producer, Moneda Nueva, designers of the Masterpieces in Stone and the Atlas of Wildlife coins. Their debut effort was a really super piece of work, issued for Fiji and depicting one of the worlds most beautiful buildings, the Taj Mahal. With an inset mineral window, antique-finish, and a high-relief strike, it was a super-size version of the genre signature format and we were impressed when we saw it. Back at this years World Money Fair in Berlin, we were very fortunate to see a prototype of this new release and bang on time the coin is now being launched for sale.

If anything, the second coin in this series trumps the first for design. Depicting the thoroughly enigmatic temple complex at Angkor Wat, all the elements that made the first coin so cool are fully in evidence here. The reverse face has a fine image of the temple itself, embedded in which is the agate window. The reverse has a brilliant composition of two faces from the complex, and the emblem of the issuer, this time around the Republic of Congo, is integrated without spoiling the harmony of the artwork too much. Inscriptions are minimal and well placed. Packaged in a high quality box, no less than you’d expect for a €3,000 plus coin, it’s available for pre-order now and highly recommended.