Just sneaking into the end of the year is the New Zealand Mints latest 2019 bullion coin in 1 oz silver and gold formats. As you’d expect from a mint that relies so heavily on its licenced properties, this one dips back into the large selection they have and pulls out their fourth Star Wars themed issue. Following two Darth Vader designs and a Stormtrooper one, it’s good to see the mint choose a subject that has been largely overlooked to date – the Clone Trooper.

Introduced by the later prequel trilogy, although also widely employed in the award-winning animated series, the Clone Trooper was also known as the Republic soldier, and came before the Imperial Stormtroopers we all love to hate. Bred on Kamino using the bounty hunter Jango Fett (father of Boba Fett) as a template, they initially fought against Battle Droids in the Separatist Crisis. With their minds unwittingly twisted by a chip implanted by the rising Sith, they responded to ‘Order 66’ by wiping out the Jedi they were created to fight alongside.

It’s a pretty cool design and uses the faux bas-relief style that previous issues have employed. To be honest, we think it’s easily the best of the four aesthetically, but obviously the least well known as a subject. Mintages stay at 25,000 for the gold and 250,000 for the silver. It should be available now and premiums shouldn’t be high.

REVERSE: Features an officially licensed, close up image of an armed Clone Trooper™ running into battle, against a backdrop of the Imperial™ logo.

OBVERSE: Features the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the monetary denomination, and the 2019 year-date.