May 29, 2014 – You see everything through rose-coloured glasses, you have butterflies in your stomach and the whole world is upside down. Everyone who has ever been in love knows this feeling. Maybe this coin – waiting to be customized with the included colour set – brings back some of the happiness of this moment.
Cooks Islands / 5 Dollars / 925 Silver / 20g / 38.61mm / Mintage: 1,500.
The coin’s obverse shows a portrait of Elizabeth II, official head of state of the Cook Islands. Engraved along the edges are her name, Elizabeth II, the issuing country, Cook Islands, and the nominal value, 5 Dollars.
The reverse depicts a romantic scene: A boy and a girl kiss standing in front of a fence. The girl is holding a yellow flower, the boy three heart-shaped balloons. The background outlines a sunset in a mountainous landscape above and a coloured flower meadow below. The upper right edge bears the inscription ‘First Love’, the lower left the year of issue 2014 with the zero substituted by a heart.
For the first time, collectors are given the opportunity to design their own coin. The surface of two of the three balloons have been treated specifically so that they can be coloured in with the brush and paint included in the set.
Wherever you look, love is in the air – in music, in literature, in art, everywhere around us. And who doesn’t like to reminisce about his first love? People have been trying to describe what happens when you fall in love for thousands of years. The old Romans thought people in love were ‘crazy’, we have ‘butterflies in our stomach’ or see the world ‘through rose-coloured glasses’. Today, science can account for the symptoms which in former times could only be described metaphorically. If you fall in love, your hormones go wild. The level of the ‘happy hormone’ serotonin is surprisingly low – as low as that of neurotics. The ‘craziness’ may stem from the obsession with the object of our love. Production of other hormones, such as the ‘cuddle hormone’ oxytocin or the reward hormone dopamine, on the other hand increase.
This state can last up to two or three years before everyday life catches up. And it is probably a good thing because constantly being in love might be slightly unhealthy – just think about the lack of appetite, often accompanied by a longing for the beloved, the insomnia, the long hours of hoping and trembling. People usually remember their first love particularly well, when everything was still new and unfamiliar.
The new coin is to remember this moment. For the first time, a coin engages the collector in the designing process. The balloons can be individually painted with the included brush and paint so that each coin is unique.
The coins are minted by B.H. Mayer’s Kunstprägeanstalt GmbH. Collectors can purchase the issue through specialty dealers.
For more information on this coin go to the Coin Invest Trust website.