Sinraptor Inaugurates New Dinosaur Coin Series From CIT

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Evolution of Life – Sinraptor

Mongolia. 500 togrog. 2019. Silver .999. 1 oz. 38.61 mm. Antique finish. Mintage999. B. H. Mayer’s Kunstprägeanstalt, Munich.

Mongolia. 1,000 togrog. 2019. Gold .9999. 0.5 g. 11 mm. ProofMintage15,000. B. H. Mayer’s Kunstprägeanstalt, Munich.

Description of the Coin

The obverse features the coat of arms of the Bank of Mongolia, below, 500 togrog in Cyrillic script, in the exergue, MONGOLIA 1 oz .999 SILVER in Latin script.

The reverse features the skull and the claws of a Sinraptor; above, DINOSAURIA and JURASSIC PERIOD, below, EVOLUTION of Life 2019. While the rugged background is reminiscent of a rocky surface, the elaborately rose-gilded skeleton protrudes from the background.

The design of the gold coin’s obverse is the same, the legend was adapted and says therefore 1000 togrog and MONGOLIA 0.5 g .9999 GOLD; the reverse features the same fossil, but only its skull, below, Sinraptor, above, EVOLUTION 2019, small ammonite in front of the year.

Background

The term “dinosaur” derived from Greek and simply means “big lizard”. Because of the film Jurassic Park (1993), these creatures, which went extinct 66 million years ago, have become the epitome of prehistoric fauna.

CIT Coin Invest AG dedicated the fifth edition of its successful series “Evolution of Life” to dinosaurs.

They chose a dinosaur that populated the Mongolian steppe about 160 million years ago to represent this species: The Sinraptor dongi. This “Chinese predator” – that is the literal translation of Sinraptor – was discovered only in 1993 when several fossils were found at the Shishugou Formation, which borders Mongolia.

The dinosaur is named after the palaeontologist Dong Zhiming, who was called “China’s Mr. Dinosaur” by the magazine National Geographic. In the context of the persecution of intellectuals during the Cultural Revolution in China, Dong had been banned from Beijing to the Mongolian border. There, he measured and mapped unexplored territories. During his journeys, he discovered a site with numerous fossils in 1975. After the opening of China, Dong succeeded in having the region protected and he prospected the promising territory together with Canadian scholars. These examinations were financed by, among others by, Steven Spielberg, who had developed an interest in paleontology while directing the film Jurassic Park. Eleven new species were cataloged for the scientific world, including the Sinraptor dongi.

Given that this dinosaur measured 7.2 meters in length and weighed about a ton, it was quite difficult to adequately represent the enormous predator on the coin. Therefore, CIT Coin Invest AG’s designers decided to focus on the impressive skull. Finally, the characteristic skull bones make it possible to identify the Sinraptor as a dinosaur.

Further Information

www.cit.li/coins/sinraptor
www.cit.li/coins/sinraptor-2

Source: https://coinweek.com