We’ve repeatedly covered new coins in the art-architecture genre, and even as they continue to proliferate, they continue to improve in quality as well. One of the worlds premiere mints, the Mint of Poland, has dabbled with this subject several times before, most notably with its Crystal Arts series. Their latest release is the third coin in this annual series and follows on from the 2012 Secrets of Liechtenstein, and 2013 Mysteries of Wawel. The subject for 2014 is the Pena National Palace, a Romanticist building situated in São Pedro de Penaferrim, itself located in Sintra, Portugal.

As before, the coin is struck in two-ounces of antique-finish fine silver with a window inset with, in this case, Green Agate. This time around the mint has migrated the design of the coin to a CADCAM system called ArtCAM, also used by the Monnaie de Paris amongst others, and it seems to have allowed them to be more ambitious with the design. Whereas the first two coins in the series hit relief heights of 0.5-0.6mm, the Pena coin almost doubles that to 0.9-1.0mm. This gives the coin an impressive three-dimensional look, similar to the Helvetic Mints “Ultra High Relief” process that they use to great effect.

The coin is up for pre-order now at just a handful of dealers worldwide. US dealer First Coin Co. is doing an introductory offer of a 12% discount (enter code PENA12 at checkout). The coin will ship from January and has a mintage of just 688 pieces, down from the 999 of the first two coins. It is NOT available direct from the Mint of Poland.

The Pena National Palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal. SItuated on a hill above the town of Sintra, on a clear day it can be seen from the Portuguese capital, Lisbon.

A building of the Romanticism, incorporating an eclectic mix of Neo-Gothic, Neo-Manueline, Neo-Islamic and Neo-Renaissance styles, it sits in over 200 hectares of forest called the Pena Park.

Built on the ruins of an old monastery damaged by lightning and a 1755 earthquake, work started in 1842 and concluded in 1854. A project of King Ferdinand, the palace was meant to be used by the Portuguese royal family as a summer retreat and was undertaken by an amateur German architect called Baron Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege.

Parts of the original Hieronymite convent remain; the cloister, the dining room, the sacristy, and the Manueline-Renaissance chapel were all embedded in a new section that featured a wide terrace and a clock tower.

ArtCAM

Traditionally, coin designs have been sculpted in plaster, but as with most things, technology is gradually supplanting the age-old methods. The Mint of Poland is using ArtCAM, a CADCAM (Computer Aided Design, Computer Aided Manufacturing) package that covers the whole process from design through to fabrication of the dies used to strike the design in metal.

Also used by the Monnaie de Paris and Coin Invest Trust, this is certainly a fascinating way forward for intricate coin design, although we hope not one to fully supplant the traditional methods.