There are a vast variety of gold coins available  from many countries in Europe. Many of these coins are beautiful and historic yet they do not find attraction in Bulgaria where they have gone to the other side of the world to meet their demand.

Valentina Grigorova Gencheva with the Panagyurishte Treasure

Bulgaria’s First Investment Bank has commissioned a new collection of gold coins from the New Zealand Mint. The bank’s head of gold and coin collecting Valentina Grigorova Gencheva said the country is a rapidly growing market for gold coins, as they are popular as both gifts and a safe haven for investors. New Zealand-made coins are popular in her homeland because they are more vibrant than those made in Europe.

Grigorova-Gencheva, the head of gold and numismatics at Bulgaria’s First Investment Bank, said the bank had been in a partnership with coin maker New Zealand Mint (NZM) since 2007. “The coins are very beautiful and the designs are very modern,” she said. Grigorova-Gencheva said coins produced in European mints were often “very conservative”, while coins produced here incorporated a wide range of colours and designs.European mints also focused on producing coins related to their own countries, while NZM produced coins with a variety of global themes.

The coin maker released a Bulgarian-themed coin – featuring the country’s fourth-century Panagyurishte Treasure – last year which proved popular with Europeans. Grigorova-Gencheva said she was working with designers to put the final touches on two more Bulgarian-themed coins. In the last three years, Ms Gencheva said the First Investment Bank alone has imported 20,000 coins struck by the company. They are highly prized among collectors for their “avant garde” designs, she added.

NZM managing director Gary McNabb said 98 per cent of the coins produced by the privately owned company were exported. He said coin collecting was not popular in New Zealand. “The bullion side of the business is the Kiwi market.”

The company exported $20.7 million worth of coins to eastern European and Balkan countries last year. It produced a coin to mark the 60th anniversary of the Kalashnikov rifle, in 2007 which proved a hit in Russia.

McNabb said revenues had grown significantly over the past six years,

Earlier this year, a new one-ounce gold coin issued by New Zealand Post became the country’s most valuable legal tender. The coin, which is valued at NZ$2,650 (£1,173), features a depiction of a heitiki, a form of Maori art, designed by self-taught sculptor Raponi Wilson.

Its design features a depiction of a heitiki, an iconic form of Maori art, created by self-taught carver Raponi Wilson, who has created over 1,000 heitikis since the late 1960s. The coins are housed in a waka hua, or treasure box, by Warren McGrath, master carver to the Maori king.
Garry Nicholas, chief executive of Maori Arts New Zealand, said: “It’s wonderful that Mr Raponi’s art is featured on this special coin.”
The obverse of the coin features a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Ian Rank-Broadly.

Denomination: $10
Composition and finish: Pure gold proof (fully struck) 0.999
Weight: 1 ounce
Diameter: 40mm
Edge treatment: Milled
Obverse design: Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by Ian Rank-Broadley, England
Reverse design: Heitiki with huia feathers

Maurice Hall sources NZ Herald, Reuters

Tags: Bulgaria, Gold, Gold coins, Money, New Zealand

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