Meteorite Impacts: Estacado Meteorite

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For the Cook Islands, CIT Coin Invest AG has designed a new silver coin as part of the Meteorite Impacts series. Just like its predecessors, the issue “Estacado Meteorite” contains a part of the meteorite it is named after.

Cook Islands / 2 dollars / Titanium silver .925 / 1/2 oz / 50 mm / Mintage: 2,500.

Description of the Coin

The blank is split by an artificial crack, which almost reaches the coin’s centre. In this crack, there is a piece of the Estacado meteorite.

The obverse shows the mountain landscape of Llano Estacado traversed by the Canadian River, in the upper field is a round depression with the portrait of Elizabeth II, below, IRB (= Ian Rank-Broadley), around it, the legend ELIZABETH II 2 DOLLARS COOK ISLANDS 2019, to right, 1/2 oz Titanium Silver .925.

On the reverse, the blue planet earth is depicted on a black background in the lower half, the crack holding the meteorite aims towards it. Above, the Lone Star of Texas on a white-blue background and the legend ESTACADO METEORITE / HALE CO, TEXAS, USA, 1833.

The northern edge of the Llano Estacado in New Mexico. Photo: Leaflet / CC BY-SA 3.0

Background

Those who visit the Hall of Meteorites in the Museum of Natural History in New York are irresistibly attracted to the meteorite Estacado. This H6 meteorite was found in Texas in 1883. It landed in an area called Hale County today which is located in Llano Estacado.

New York is not the only place where you can see parts of this object, which is four billion years old: The collection of the Smithsonian Museum and the collection of the Natural History Museum in London also own parts of it. With the new issue of the Meteorite Impact series of CIT Coin Invest AG, 2,500 further meteorite collectors will be able to obtain a piece of the Estacado meteorite to which this latest addition to the series is dedicated.

This series has become highly successful due to the fact that CIT Coin Invest AG applies a new and most advanced technology for the production of each issue. There is only one detail that always remains the same: Each coin contains a part of the meteorite it is named after. Already two issues of the series, which started in 2004, have been honoured with an award.

In 2019, CIT Coin Invest AG continues to break new ground: For the first time, an artificial edge crack traverses the field. This is an enhancement of the artificial break throughs that can be admired on the meteorite coins since 2016. Additionally, – thanks to smartminting technology – this issue’s diameter of 50 mm is significantly larger without increasing the weight. And, last but not least, for the first time a new alloy is being used: titanium silver.

Thanks to a most subtle use of colour and a complex finish, this coin is a work of art as well as a symbol for the beauty and the vulnerability of our blue planet, and for our close connection with the infinite universe, which is older than a human being can imagine. The fact that a part of this coin is four billion years old is simply incredible.

 

You can find more information about the coin on the website of CIT Coin Invest AG.

In this video you can have a detailed look at the coin:

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You can find detailed information about the Estacado Meteorite on the website of the Meteoritical Society.

If you would like to know which other meteorites CIT Coin Invest AG has immortalized in their coins, feel free to browse through our archive section.

It is well worth having a look at the Hall of Meteorites in the American Museum of Natural History as well.